Goodbye to Windows 98

On July 11^th, Microsoft said a long awaited goodbye to Windows 98 and Windows ME. Next on the Microsoft chopping block is Windows XP SP1, which is due to end on October 10, 2006. Why is Microsoft dropping support of these fine, cough, products?

Windows 98 was released in 1998 making the Operating System (OS) 8 years old at the time it was dropped. I for one am glad to see the old OS go. After all, most versions of Linux don’t stick around for more than 2 to 3 years. Okay, I know what all you Linux people are saying. You can upgrade the kernel of Linux for free where as with a Microsoft product; you have to spend money to get an upgrade. It’s actually worse than that. Windows XP probably won’t run on that old computer that you bought with Windows 98, so you’ll have to upgrade the hardware too.

So should Microsoft still support Windows 98 for those people that can’t afford to upgrade? I still say no. Anything older than 5 years needs to be retired. The reason simply put is security. For one, Windows 98 and Windows ME have virtually no security built into them. With that in mind, I think they should have been retired a long time ago. With the growing number of threats out there, it’s time for home users to either unplug from the Internet, or upgrade to a different OS (notice I didn’t say a Microsoft OS).

For those users that just simply can’t afford to upgrade, try Linux. While I usually recommend Debian for the server world, Ubuntu seems to growing in popularity, especially in areas where users are not technically savvy. I have downloaded and installed Ubuntu and found it surprisingly easy to install. If all you do is word processing, email and surfing the web, Ubuntu might be your “free” answer. If you are feeling adventuresome, check out Debian.

For more information about Microsoft dropping support of Windows 98, Windows ME, and Windows XP SP1, please visit Microsoft’s web site at: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/support/endofsupport.mspx

For more information about Debian Linux, please visit: http://www.us.debian.org/

For more information about Ubuntu Linux, please visit: http://www.ubuntu.com/

This entry was posted on Friday, July 21st, 2006 at 6:01 pm and is filed under Microsoft. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.