If a computer is going to sleep, it must be able to communicate that information to applications so that certain types of applications can stay semi-active, while others hibernate. For example, you don't want your computer to wake up just because your word processor is set to do an auto-save every ten minutes. On the other hand, you don't want the Task Scheduler to completely go to sleep if it has important tasks to perform. The power management services must know the differences between such programs and be able to interact with them accordingly. The power management services must be able to fully interact with the hardware.
Various devices have different power requirements while in sleep mode, depending on what they do.
The Windows 2000 operating system must be able to interact with hardware devices to ensure that they have the proper amount of power for their current function. Not only must the operating system interact with the power needs of existing devices, but if you add devices to your system in the future, the power management services must also be able to interact with those new devices. Copyright 2001 INT Media Group, Incorporated All Rights Reserved.