"Windows 98 + ME *still* alive" campaign

By win 98 fan
in Microsoft (Windows)

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Grand Master

Arkaic

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It can't stay around forever. It has to go eventually. that time is now.
:yes: Absolutely. I imagine the OP would quite expect MS to soon announce support for the 9x/Me family until 2011 'due to public outcry'.

But in all honesty, technology, as well as the world moves on. You want to use it go ahead, but don't complain when they draw the line in the sand. They can't support it forever.

Grand Master

tony-inpo

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Windows 98 (first edition) is 8 years old. It should have been cut ages ago. XP is a far better operating system.

What makes this campaign completely unbelievable is that your tiring to keep Windows ME alive. Why on earth would you ever want to do that?? ME, quite frankly, is diabolical.

If you don't want to spend to upgrade your system, at least turn to Linux for an alternative. 98 and ME should be left now, we need to move on

Grand Master

TCA

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my puter is 6 yrs old and i upgraded to xp... anything from 98 and ME should have limited support but, it is MS's stuff and they can choose to end support for outdated software. ME was diabolical and poorly put together... it wouldn't even install on this pc but xp did with no problem.

Grand Master

Brian M. Veteran

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Can i just add - Windows ME was dead at the point of its release IMO :D

I dunno what people are moaning at - You can run XP on a 266mhz Pentium 2 with 64mb of ram - you can get that on ebay for a couple of quid. And those that dont wanna pay for xp - its about ?45 for an OEM version of XP home - -ocnsidering how much it costs to build a computer, its not that much. Then again, i do like using the legacy stuff for "mucking around purposes", and i still have a windows 3.11 pc in the back cupboard:))

Edit: have a look at my sig - that Dell Optiplex handles XP with no problem. It used to crash all over the place when it had windows NT workstation on it (why the hell it had that on i couldnt tell you), and it constantly bluescreened with win98 - But with XP - its Ok - its not a speed machine, but its a good computer considering its age!

Grand Master

John Veteran

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A lot of people know I'm a big Windows fan. I have a lot of enthusiasm for Windows, especially XP. However, that enthusiasm does not extend to Windows 98, and certainly not ME. Windows 98 has too much instability and was meant to have widespread compatibility across DOS machines. And ME had DOS stripped out in an attempt to become more stable, but there were too many dependencies among third-party software, and it was basically an utter failure.

You know, there was another version of Windows released just before Windows 95. It was written nearly from the ground up, and was far more reliable, scalable, efficient, and secure than Windows 9x. It was called Windows NT, and it forms the base of Windows 2000, XP, and Vista (before they re-wrote half of it...). After the release of Windows 2000, Microsoft realized that NT was what machines should be running in the future, decided to phase out the Windows 9x line, and Windows ME would be the final version of that line of Windows.

Now, I understand many people still have machines running 9x and can't afford to upgrade the hardware or software. For those people, they have little choice but to stick with what they have. But they will have to accept the fact that formal support from Microsoft will be unavailable. That shouldn't be a problem, though. If they've been running 9x for this long, they've seen its shortcomings and learned to live with them; they've experienced the issues 9x has, and discovered a solution. These people will be just fine by themselves without formal support.

For the people who "just like" Windows 9x and don't want to change, do what you want. But don't expect people to help you because you won't let go of your security blanket and move on to better things.

Grand Master

Brian M. Veteran

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basicly this far down the line you shouldnt need help with the OS if you're still using it.

Agreed. Any people who are still using it are mainly using it by choice. they have the choice to stick or upgrade - and to be honest, most systems that can run ME can run w2k or even xp anyway - heck, the average machine when ME was out was a pIII 1ghz with 128 ram, which is more than enough to run either 2000 or xp.

as for 98 - my first 98 machine was a pII 400mhz with 64mb of ram (not the dell in my sig). As it stands, it could run 2000, and maybe with some more ram, it could have run xp.

Mentor

threesixtyflip

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Well if thats the case and you all think it should die, then why dont we ask Microsoft to release the source code so that the people who WANT to still use it can write their own updates for it?

That way both people are happy:

Microsoft Happy: Windows 9x doesnt use the 2000/XP kernel so it cant be ripped off and they are also offloading old software.

Users: They get a chance to make their own updates for "old faithful" and keep it running.

Well thats my $0.02 anyway, but you dont have to listen to me lol

Community Regular

James B

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There's a spare machine I use at the office, hadn't been used for a few years. Booted up nicely, a 600MHz Celeron, 128MB RAM etc. No Office, and my licensed stuff only covers 2003, which it won't do. Tried Open Office, too slow to use effectively, and MS Word Viewer won't work either.

Format and put XP on, and it's so slow it's amazing. It's not too bad now, with everything turned off and down to a minimum, but it's still slow.

For a computer in great condition and works well with Firefox for a few things it's a real shame to have to dump it and find another. 98SE still has some shelf life, IMO. 2000 would probably run on it fine though.

As a 98SE user with it I'd never even think of calling MS, just Google the problem. Someone is bound to have had the same problem, but it's pretty trouble free. If it had been used more extensively I would think people would have upgraded sufficiently to use XP now.

People citing cost as a reason for not buying a new PC should check out Dimensions on the Dell Outlet. Some frigging amazing deals - decent hardware, Windows XP Home and delivery for under ?170. Just use your existing monitor/keyboard/mouse.

Grand Master

Digitalx

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Well if thats the case and you all think it should die, then why dont we ask Microsoft to release the source code so that the people who WANT to still use it can write their own updates for it?

because the way propiatry software world spins, for them to do that would be like the sun turning off for us :p

Veteran

Mike Frett

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I never had an issue with 98. Worked fine for me. I personally have another older PC that runs 98SE, damn good OS. Fast and not bloated.

I'll tell ya straight up. If I could get my hardware on my current system to work with 98SE, I'd switch back. I have a hardware firewall and not once got a virus on 98. Actually, I think when Vista comes out I'll switch to Linux and dual boot Linux/98SE.

Good deal, all the fun and no headaches. Nice article BTW OP.

Grand Master

John Veteran

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Well if thats the case and you all think it should die, then why dont we ask Microsoft to release the source code so that the people who WANT to still use it can write their own updates for it?

1. It's their intellectual property, and some of their proprietary ideas and solutions would be opened to the public.

2. It wouldn't do much good anyway as no one outside of Microsoft knows how all the components work together and how each one is written. An open-source programmer can't just pick up a piece of software code, read through it, and immediately understand the intricacies of all the components.

3. Some design issues exist and there may be no other way to "fix" those issues besides redesigning and recoding the software.

Grand Master

Simon Veteran

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My school is still using 98 because we have user accounts set up on the network, which was traken out of XP Home ande put in Pro, which we can't afford, plus we can't replace 40+ computers. However, we are moving to Linux this year.

  • 2 weeks later...
Grand Master

sanctified Veteran

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I wonder what you guys think about those who uses old computers for legacy software :rolleyes:

Grown up already. If people want to use windows 98 or whatever how does affect you?

I wonder what you guys think about those who uses old computers for legacy software :rolleyes:

Grown up already. If people want to use windows 98 or whatever how does affect you?

Grand Master

Brian M. Veteran

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Simon - your school can apply for Microsoft Sponsoring - ours have - and we received it. They upgraded our network from 98 to xp with no hitches (except RM taking too long to install).

IMO - if users are still using 98, they are using by their own choice. theyve had enough upgrade options - and whether they still use it or not, is up to them.

To be honest, Microsoft will never release any source code, because no matter how old it is, they still own the licenses to it (they still own the license to DOS etc)... and they WILL never release it - its never going to happen. There still might be some code from 98 in later versions, and releasing the source code will not only allow people to write their own updates (like, 1 in every 10,000 win98 users may be able to do this), but it also allows hackers access to the source code to exploit the other 9999 in 10000 users.

Grand Master

Quillz

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Posted
I wonder what you guys think about those who uses old computers for legacy software :rolleyes:

Grown up already. If people want to use windows 98 or whatever how does affect you?

I wonder what you guys think about those who uses old computers for legacy software :rolleyes:

Grown up already. If people want to use windows 98 or whatever how does affect you?

I agree. If people want to use older OS for legacy games, then by all means go ahead. It's your OS. However, I don't think Microsoft should continue to support OS that are over a decade old. I used Win98 all the way up to 2003, even though I knew that Win98 was basically at the end of its lifespan.
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