Microsoft Ending Support of Windows 98 and Millennium

[NamesDontMatter]

Microsoft has decided to end support for Windows 98 and Millennium on July 11. A surprisingly large number of computers still use Windows 98 and Millennium. An astonishing 13 per cent of Vole's customers or 70 million people still use this outdated OS.

Source: TheINQ (http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=32796)

[zekrahminator]

I used to be one of the large percentage of people using Windows ME :laugh:. Thankfully, XP home edition upgrade went on sale, and I convinced my Dad it was worth it (the entire OS would lag after about 3 hours, unfixable by hardware means lol.).

[Jimmy 2004]

98 still kicks XP's arse in terms of resource usage, so some gamers still used it until Windows 2000 became the minimum spec.

[sinner33]

It should be about time, since I have a friend still kickin with his windows 95 and a pentium 1 still going strong. The only thing he changed in his old rig is the power supply to a 600watt OCZ, because his old one died.

[oldschool]

Yup, MICROSUCKS should by law be required to fully support an O/S for a minimum of 10 years but preferably 15 years, including proper security and defective code updates.

[strick94u]

Yup, MICROSUCKS should by law be required to fully support an O/S for a minimum of 10 years but preferably 15 years, including proper security and defective code updates.
And they should come over with steaks and fine wine and rub my feet while I defrag my hard drive damnit!

[newtekie1]

Yeah right. How many companies provide free support for 10 years, I can't think of a single one. Hell, you can't get car manufactures to give free support and repairs for 5 years let alone 10, and you pay $20,000+ for cars.

[Jimmy 2004]

Yeah right. How many companies provide free support for 10 years, I can't think of a single one. Hell, you can't get car manufactures to give free support and repairs for 5 years let alone 10, and you pay $20,000+ for cars.

Yes but cars tend to be sold with locks fitted to them, M$ often leave the door open a little bit.

But I agree, they can't be expected to offer support for 10 years or more, it just prevents them focusing on the newer software.

[newtekie1]

And the locks on cars built 3 years ago can be picked by most thieves with their eyes closed, just like the security on a Windows OS. It is great for a short time, but given enough time people find the little tricks to get around it and it becomes the responsibility of the owner to make sure it stays secure. The only difference is Microsoft actually fixes the security problems with patches, I don't see many car manufactures sending out new locks to all their customers becaues the old ones can be picked by a 5 year old.

[OneCool]

It should be about time, since I have a friend still kickin with his windows 95 and a pentium 1 still going strong. The only thing he changed in his old rig is the power supply to a 600watt OCZ, because his old one died.

That OCZ psu could power like 5 of those rigs without breaking a sweat :laugh:

[spectre440]

98 SE was actually a damn good OS for its day, IMHO...

[newtekie1]

I agree, for its time 98 SE was a damn good OS. However, its time is long past.

[Alec§taar]

Yes but cars tend to be sold with locks fitted to them, M$ often leave the door open a little bit.

Ever heard the saying "locks only keep honest folks out"...

?

It applies here & really in anything else...

(IMO, for what it's worth @ least? I think we are a GOOD decade away from TRULY secure OS' & Softwares! .NET technology, even though it's "runtime engine interpreted code" (big fan of "old-school, standalone .exe types" here) IT IS MAKING STRIDES IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION & FOR WHAT I feel is the bigger problem than the OS having a couple holes... but moreso in client softwares we use having them (lot of this goes on)).

.NET takes stress off coders in many respects in that area (building better apps)...

APK

P.S.=> imo, ANY OS out there and their softwares (the biggest danger nowadays along w/ rootkits) can be busted into, but since MS is the MOST USED platform out there? Well, bigger target to attack & more to be gained by doing so... apk

[Jimmy 2004]

Ever heard the saying "locks only keep honest folks out"...

?

It applies here & really in anything else...

(IMO, for what it's worth @ least? I think we are a GOOD decade away from TRULY secure OS' & Softwares! .NET technology, even though it's "runtime engine interpreted code" (big fan of "old-school, standalone .exe types" here) IT IS MAKING STRIDES IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION & FOR WHAT I feel is the bigger problem than the OS having a couple holes... but moreso in client softwares we use having them (lot of this goes on)).

.NET takes stress off coders in many respects in that area (building better apps)...

APK

P.S.=> imo, ANY OS out there and their softwares (the biggest danger nowadays along w/ rootkits) can be busted into, but since MS is the MOST USED platform out there? Well, bigger target to attack & more to be gained by doing so... apk

Much much longer than that I expect. There will always be some loopholes and backdoors, I can understand that. But until everyone made a big thing of it M$ just didn't care enough.

[zekrahminator]

Ever heard the saying "locks only keep honest folks out"...

?

It applies here & really in anything else...

(IMO, for what it's worth @ least? I think we are a GOOD decade away from TRULY secure OS' & Softwares! .NET technology, even though it's "runtime engine interpreted code" (big fan of "old-school, standalone .exe types" here) IT IS MAKING STRIDES IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION & FOR WHAT I feel is the bigger problem than the OS having a couple holes... but moreso in client softwares we use having them (lot of this goes on)).

.NET takes stress off coders in many respects in that area (building better apps)...

APK

P.S.=> imo, ANY OS out there and their softwares (the biggest danger nowadays along w/ rootkits) can be busted into, but since MS is the MOST USED platform out there? Well, bigger target to attack & more to be gained by doing so... apk
If I'm not mistaken, this is your first post without a :) in it lol. And as long as their are people willing, we will never have a truly secure OS.

[newtekie1]

Yeah, the world will probably never see a truly secure OS.

Part of the problem is balancing User freedoms with security. The more secure you try to make an OS the more the user has to give up. I personally don't have a problem with the current security level of XP, and I like my freedoms. However, I think my OS X machine asking me for a username and password every time I run an installer is a little too far security wise. It is a balancing act that developers have to play.

[Jimmy 2004]

If I'm not mistaken, this is your first post without a :) in it lol. And as long as their are people willing, we will never have a truly secure OS.

I believe it may be his second! :laugh:

[strick94u]

my old throw around laptop is a tuoghbook with 98 se on it and does everything just fine even has office 2003. I manily keep it to hit car jackers in the head with but it gives me 3 hrs battery time something my 3400+ amd compaq wont do half of

[Alec§taar]

I believe it may be his second! :laugh:

It is... Jim2k4 gets the prize for being correct!

(He is the first person who commented on that in fact, lol, in another thread!)

:)

* See? There 'tis...

I can understand that. But until everyone made a big thing of it M$ just didn't care enough.

Ah, you ought to read the book "The Cuckoo's Egg" by Cliff Stoll, a TRUE story!

It is about the FIRST KNOWN "hacker/cracker" gang (germans in the employ of the Russian KGB) who were using academia computers in the states as "jump off points" into Military Systems here (including where my bro is stationed in Richmond Hill Ga., in Ft. Stewart).

What caused it?

Richard Stallman (GNU anybody) & buffer overflows in his work (emacs editor iirc)... it's NOT just Microsoft...

APK

P.S.=> Well, on the subject @ hand, or rather what it diverted to?

I tend to do a bit of research/study into the area of security & from what I read (& see, of course) @ spots like secunia, or securityfocus.com, the OS' of today are pretty well secured (by way of comparison to say, 1 decade ago, this imo is certain)...

However, the apps & their featuresets (e.g.-> ActiveX, Java, javascripts, Macroing & internal programmability being exploited, etc.) are the "main problems" being turned to & exploited by malicious hacker/cracker types.

Witness the latest exploits MS' is dealing with in Microsoft Office Word & Excel, & see the point I was attempting to make above... apk

[newtekie1]

I agree, the majority of security threats come from software installed on top of the OS, not the OS itself. However, I don't think we will see a totally secure OS, there will always be loopholes and don't forget the PEBKAC virus that always affects OSes. Even if the security threat involves tricking the user into installing the virus it will work because there is always people stupid enough to do it. The OS can't stop that no matter how secure it is.

[i_am_mustang_man]

It should be about time, since I have a friend still kickin with his windows 95 and a pentium 1 still going strong. The only thing he changed in his old rig is the power supply to a 600watt OCZ, because his old one died.

that's excessive, in every conceivable good way :rockout:

[wazzledoozle]

Please dont bump such old threads.