Microsoft shuts down Windows 98....

[Fourjays Veteran]

Then tell me where I can get a copy of Windows XP Pro OEM (FULLY LEGAL) for ?70

http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Quick...gationKey=50310

http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Quick...gationKey=50310

Could get it cheaper if you shopped around.

[RootWind]

Switch to Linux.

Doubt it. Most of the people still using Windows 98 probably don't care enough to switch, and will continue using it until the computer dies.

[aclarke_31]

Well I challenge members of Neowin.NET to find a copy of Windows XP PRO OEM SP2 for less than ?70 because if you can find it for less then that, then there is no reason for me to not upgrade:pp

[andrewhaji]

Microsoft should send out one final update to all Windows 98 machines. Similar to Windows Genuine Advantage Notification, it should alert users to the fact that they are running an outdated, insecure, and unsupported OS and offer them a link to purchase the upgrade version of Windows XP for about half price.

I think most people still running Windows 98 are people who simply don't know any better.

[ToneKnee]

Well I for one won't upgrade just because Microsoft have battered their eyelids. I've been a solid user of Windows 98 for over 8 years now, and I'm not going to change just because Microsoft say so.

Anyway, with Windows XP selling for over ?200 for an OEM copy in the UK what does Microsoft think everyone that's running Window 98 are going to do?

Rush to the shops to buy Windows XP so they have an up to date system. BLEH !! BULLS**T!

Then tell me where I can get a copy of Windows XP Pro OEM (FULLY LEGAL) for ?70

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/97544/rb/20362138225

?89 for Windows XP Professional SP2 OEM ^

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/in...oduct_uid=98253

?75 Windows Media Center 2005 OEM ^

Windows Media Center 2005 is basicly Windows XP Professional, just some of its Networking features like Domain membership removed (but, you can get round that during the setup:p; :p)

Here is Windows XP Home SP2 OEM for ?57, i don't see the point in Windows XP Professional if you have simple hardware and not going to use the advanced Network features that Windows 98 doesn't even have&:p3; :p

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/97548/rb/20362138225

I'll keep looking round.

Edited July 11, 2006 by NeoFlux

[Fourjays Veteran]

I would personally save the extra cash for something else and get XP Home unless you need a feature that is in Pro. I originally had an illegal copy of Windows XP Pro, and about a month after I purchased a copy of XP Home. Haven't noticed a difference, apart from the loading bar colour pre-SP2.

[Lasker]

I personally recommend to the people with windows 98 and can't afford the upgrade switch to a version of linux for newbie such as mandrake or SUSE, I guarantee is better and secure than 98.

[dagamer34]

Guys, Microsoft stopping support of Windows 98 and Me doesn't mean you must buy XP. You can contuine to use 98 or ME for as long as you live but it's strongly recommended that you are in line with the technological advances and buy XP.

Saying that XP will not work on Win-98 shipped computers is not an excuse. You can run XP with it's fancy on on:

500Mhz CPU

256MB RAM

64MB Video card

Sound card

CD-ROM drive

and copies of XP are so cheap now a days that I saw a copy of XP Pro for $99 AU at HN and Officeworks.

Anyone who's actually tried to run Windows XP with those specs and survived without destroying their computer, I applaud them.

Quite simply, a computer that old is unlikely to have an AGP port, and the money spent upgrading your system to that level would rather be spent on a $299 Dell.

[BajiRav]

Anyone who's actually tried to run Windows XP with those specs and survived without destroying their computer, I applaud them.

Quite simply, a computer that old is unlikely to have an AGP port, and the money spent upgrading your system to that level would rather be spent on a $299 Dell.

pentium II 266 Mhz

128 MB RAM / 10 Gig HDD

Windows XP on classic theme.

I don't even remember VRAM on it now :p

Used it for 2+ years as a browsing desktop when I went to grad school. Was a good companion to my dell laptop.

[Prosidius]

Folks, Windows 98 is 8 years old, if your system is old, get a cheap copy of Windows 2000 on ebay or something.

[Farstrider]

Was going to happen sooner or later. Surprises me that so many still use Windows 98 though. Probably not as big as it sounds, when you compare it to the number of XP users though.

I am in the industry and see many, many PC's with Windows 98 as the OS, believe me the number of PC's using this operating system is huge!

AssetMetrix, an Ottawa-based IT asset analysis tool vendor, collected data on over 370,000 PCs from 670 businesses in the U.S. and Canada. It found that 80 percent of those companies have at least one PC running either Windows 95 or Windows 98. The older operating systems accounted for about 27 percent of operating systems found.These figures are slightly old but as can be seen there are many companies that still use old operating systems! In India and China not to mention Africa, most systems are still running Windows 95, 98 and 98SE!

Well I for one won't upgrade just because Microsoft have battered their eyelids. I've been a solid user of Windows 98 for over 8 years now, and I'm not going to change just because Microsoft say so.

Anyway, with Windows XP selling for over ?200 for an OEM copy in the UK what does Microsoft think everyone that's running Window 98 are going to do?

Rush to the shops to buy Windows XP so they have an up to date system. BLEH !! BULLS**T!

It is not as if Windows XP SP2 is new it is at least 6 years old already! Student versions are pretty cheap and OEM versions should not cost more than ?75.00 and for the Pro Xp version about ?95.00 or ?100.00! In fact Windows 98/Windows 98 SE can be upgraded for about ?50.00.

[Brandon]

If you look around, there a few people locally selling P3 1GHz or some 1.2GHz AMD Athlon for around $120 with XP, 20GB HD, CD-RW etc, so even if you are outdated, its not that expensive to upgrade

[CaKeY]

They should just open source it. Give it to the people if they dont want to support it anymore.

[viciv]

even win2k is much better than win98..

[CaKeY]

Heck, many people (myself included) feel 2k is better than xp.

[mad_onion]

there isnt a lot of excuse anymore to have 98 in the UK you can buy a Dell pc for ?180 including tax and delivery which is pretty low for a pc so if someone has to upgrade cost is much less an isssue than people make out.

and the specs of that arent terrible at all tbh

Intel? Celeron? D Processor 336 (2.80GHz, 533FSB, 256k cache)

512MB Dual Channel DDR2 533MHz (2x256) Memory

80GB (7200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive with 8MB DataBurst? cache

[Neil]

there isnt a lot of excuse anymore to have 98 in the UK you can buy a Dell pc for ?180 including tax and delivery which is pretty low for a pc so if someone has to upgrade cost is much less an isssue than people make out.

and the specs of that arent terrible at all tbh

Intel? Celeron? D Processor 336 (2.80GHz, 533FSB, 256k cache)

512MB Dual Channel DDR2 533MHz (2x256) Memory

80GB (7200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive with 8MB DataBurst? cache

Also the people that use Windows 98 would be quiet happy with a PC like that, although I remember when I was running Windows 95 up until 2002, when I got a new PC, it lasted me 6 years and it was pretty secure because viruses couldn't run......

[L3thal Veteran]

About time 98 is not supported anymore.

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

Why is everyone talking like "I'm not gonna upgrade, MS can't force me" or "Wow, now I'll switch to Linux".

I mean, all they are stopping is support, which few people actually bother with. As home users - you will not be hugely affected!

[ozgeek]

Anyone who's actually tried to run Windows XP with those specs and survived without destroying their computer, I applaud them.

Quite simply, a computer that old is unlikely to have an AGP port, and the money spent upgrading your system to that level would rather be spent on a $299 Dell.

It's really, really possible to run XP on that old system of mine. Yes it had a AGP port. I am not sure what version of the AGP port it was but I suspect it to be up to 4x I bought that system in 2000 (came with Win98). Over the course of 5 years until last year, I upgraded it's RAM from 64MB to 256MB, it's hard drive from 8 GB to 40GB with additional of USB extrerial 80GB drive) upgraded it's CD drive to a DVD-RW burner and OS from 98 to ME then XP.

It's not sluggish as you suspected as long as you don't have many programs open. Dreamweaver is possible on it, even Photoshop. System bootup takes like up to 5 minutes but can be slashed if the OS is tweaked. It wasn't even worth replacing because it did a increible job. If you don't game (or do console-gaming), and just browse the net, doing general computer work. To tell you, I used this computer for the sole purpose of surfing the net 24/7 (including downloading stuff) and play games on my Xbnx. Making DVD's was REALLY possible. I made one of my trip in Townsville and mum was impressed at my skills in creating one :D

Yeah, I finally bought a new system in July last year and gave this old system to my sister (with XP Home installed.)

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As for the topic: I agree with njlouch. You can use 98 or even 3.11 as long as you live. You will not get support from MS but any user should know that there are more support options than wasting money on MS support - Use GOOGLE it's free and is resource-full. Even you can find support for virtually anything not to do with computers.

[Rudy]

now if only the company i work for could stop supporting Win98 :( we still support Win95 :no: i really hate those stupid calls