Windows 2k is effectively dead. 

For the most part the only people still holding onto it are the ones who can't afford to upgrade, refuse to upgrade (because they're cheap), or unable to upgrade due to legacyware.  Microsoft could release an OS that's 200% faster and more efficient and that serves them milk and cookies but still not get them to upgrade.

Incorrect. While much of that is at least partially true, it's not entirely true. Most people still using 2k don't upgrade because 2k does serve their computing needs better. They don't refuse to upgrade because they're cheap - they refuse to upgrade because 2k is better for them, period.

I still use 2k alongside XP on one of my systems, and I occasionally find reasons to use 2k instead. And I appreciate it therefore.

Unless you're using legacyware, there is nothing 2k provides that XP does not.

2k will NEVER DIE!!! *runs away crying*

For me yes. i want to be able to use all of my RAM and don't want to switch to vista.

I just want all my old programs to work on my new PC... is that really too much to ask?

Incorrect yet again. Win2k offers faster system performance, a lower drain on resources, and minor compatibility differences with XP. If you have a program that works on both Win2k and WinXP, it'll likely work better on a system running Win2k.

As a heavy PC gamer I can attest to this. The difference is neglible on today's HW but back in the early part of the decade it was a handful of FPS at the least. I held on to 2K until 2006 when I finally started running into SW that was incompatible with it. Funny enough most of that SW actually could work the programmers just didn't wanna bother testing it so they put in code to "ban" 2k. Hackers got around that quick.

To this day 2k is the Windows version I enjoyed the most, by a long shot.

I agree, on my new PC I just built I could run Vista, but if I can I'll install Win2k on it (I must prepare an SP4 CD with NLite, first, as my original CD is SP2 and may not run well from SATA drives), as all the SW I own runs on it. My "plan B" is neither Vista nor Win7, but obviously XP, as I have it on the notebook too, so it would be the simplest option, but if I can, I'll delay the expense of getting another licence to next year's Summer, when extended support for Win2k will cease.

My third option would be to run Win2k in a virtual machine, if it offered already enough performances for 3D games on current low-mid range PC's.