When Microsoft pulls the plug on Windows 98 support next Friday, it will offer a free CD designed to help users “make the most” of the aging operating system, without any further assistance from the software giant.
Windows 98 Support Shifts to CD
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Eugenia Loli
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It has been supported longer than it should have been by MS standards. Thought I read they support the current minus one version only. With it being out so long I don’t think users would have trouble finding their answers with this or the web, pretty much most of the problems have already been found and patched (I hope
).
Well it had to happen at one point. Microsoft wanted to dump Windows 98 for a long time, right before WinXP came out to be specific. As an owner of a small business shop which caters to end-users, I’m a bit concerned that my support for this product will have to end even though Microsoft is pulling the plug on Win98.
It’s been my view to continue to support a system until it’s no longer viable. We’ve already retired all Win95 based support back in 2002 and will no longer touch it except to upgrade it to Win98. Now we may have to have a totally different route.
I guess time does march on.
6 years supporting an OS … not bad.
Thank god! Now maybe I can convince my user base to finish shifting off 98 and onto at least 2000.
I will be glad to see it go. It is too easy for users to screw up and too hard for admins to lock down.
When are they pulling the plug on ME?
I’m very pleasantly surprised that they will release a free cd with all the security patches and updates and whatnot for win98 (if I read that correctly). It may well be just a big PR move, but it shows they’re not just going to leave Win98 users totally high and dry.
That said – being able to install updates from a cd-rom instead of having to go through windows update is a big plus as far as I’m concerned. Saves time and you’re not connecting to the net with old vulnerabilities.
Like I said, maybe it is just a big PR thing for them, but it shows tact and consideration, and I can respect that.
It sounds like the Cd will just be FAQs and documents. What I’d like is an ISO containing all of the patches and updates to the Windows 98 components.
-Bob
Very nice. I hope they’ll make localized versions and give it to PC magazines, that would simplify obtaining it.
Just a note that Win 98 SE is widely known to be the best Windows release for playing games on since pretty well every game released in the last 5 years works fine on it. The same *cannot* be said for 2000 or XP – I actually downgraded from XP to 98 SE for this very reason (Windows is only any use for playing games and the budget games I had mostly wouldn’t work on XP).
With 98 SE being consigned to the scrapheap, this either means folks will hang onto it to play older games (but with no new security fixes, leaving their systems vulnerable) or upgrade to XP and lose out on a chunk of their games collection. This could hit some gamers hard…
You have to get some pretty old games if they don’t run on Windows XP. Being a gamer I wouldn’t touch windows 98 anymore. I run 1024 MB RAM, what on earth would I do with the 768 MB that Windows 98 doesn’t know how to handle? And don’t say Linux. I’m running a gig in that computer too.
Have you tried Compatiblity Mode in XP? I have an old game that set up with 95 compatiblity just fine on XP.
“It sounds like the Cd will just be FAQs and documents. What I’d like is an ISO containing all of the patches and updates to the Windows 98 components.”
It will have both. MS is currently beta testing an Update CD for 9x. It has updates for Windows 98FE/SE, ME, 2000, and XP. It is currently at RC2 stages, and will undoubtably this version will be released as RTM.
Now I’m very confused… Why not just dual-boot 98 and XP?? I mean, if you’re playing a game, you’re not going to need to pop onto the desktop or something. So why not just boot into Win98 to play games and back into XP for everything else?
it doesn’t seem very complex to me. Especially since you stated that a lot of gamers have a bunch of games that won’t run on XP. So why not just use both operating systems??
People here still use it, even the ROP center. I however, dont like that os much in the sense that it is less stable and secure than Windows 2000. Of course I havent used any games that much on Windows except my emulators so of course I’m not going to feel a burden of offing a Windows 98 system, though I suppose a person could just disconnect the cord to the Ethernet when playing games to feel secure.