Microsoft to Stop support Services for Win 95 and 98 Next Month

[Sepecat]

I came across this article in the Times of India.


Microsoft to abort Win 95, 98
REDMOND: Microsoft Corp will stop offering support services next month for computer users whose machines are still running Windows 95 and Windows 98, though the company said it might still release security patches if threats appear serious enough.

About 20 per cent of all Windows -based computers in the US still run Windows 95 or 98, according to International Data Corp, a technology market research firm. People with those machines no longer will be able to call Microsoft for help after January 16.

Online assistance will still be available for Windows 98, but Microsoft spokesman Matt Pilla would not say whether it will continue for Windows 95. He said only that it is possible.

Analysts said the support phase-out should not cause major problems, in part because businesses - the largest segment of the PC market - generally upgrade their computers every three to five years. "I don't think anybody's freaking out about it," said Jupiter Research analyst Joe Wilcox. "One, the operating systems are very old and I don't believe a large number of businesses are using (them) in critical areas. Two ... there's an ample warning that these products are end-of-life."

George`

[Ayce]

Now, if we can just get M$ to do what Apple did, some ppl would be happy. You can get some older Apple OS's free at pure-mac and other sources online. Of course, these os's are no longer supported so your on your own, but it gives new life to older machines that don't need to run the "latest" programs, ie: basic word processing or just emails.;)

[Bage]

The BIG problem is that MS don't issue any more
security upgrades on OS's that are unsupported. :(
With MS security problems thats a major problem.
I would never run an OS from MS without a possibility to get
new patches to fix the holes that ppl find and explore. :comp:

/bage

[NewWheel]

Bage: I would never run an OS from MS without a possibility to get new patches to fix the holes that ppl find and explore. :comp:Hehe, I can see this in a bit different way: less in the OS built-in 'services' == less holes! :sly:

And with any new OS available, the risk of using older OS lowers, because the 'target' for attackers moves further away... ^_^

This is the main reason why I still stick with my trusty Win 98 SE, with which I never had any problems at all, neither functional nor security, and will do so as long it will be possible. :)

This does not preclude 'playing' with other OSes though, I tried Win2K and have XP on another drive, but I use my trusty Win98 for all 'serious' tasks, including SW development.

Weird heh? :eek: ^_^

:ghug:

[Mickk]

Originally posted by NewWheel
Hehe, I can see this in a bit different way: less in the OS built-in 'services' == less holes! :sly:

And with any new OS available, the risk of using older OS lowers, because the 'target' for attackers moves further away... ^_^

This is the main reason why I still stick with my trusty Win 98 SE, with which I never had any problems at all, neither functional nor security, and will do so as long it will be possible. :)

This does not preclude 'playing' with other OSes though, I tried Win2K and have XP on another drive, but I use my trusty Win98 for all 'serious' tasks, including SW development.

Weird heh? :eek: ^_^

:ghug:

Heh, not as weird as it sounds NewWheel, I am still using Win 98SE and plan on continuing to do so for as long as it practical, that is until an OS is released that doesn't crash too much, doesn't have any serious security problems and will run *any* kind of program that was written for *any* OS.

Maybe then I will change, but until that happens I can't see myself doing it ;)

Many years ago I used to work in a computer shop, around the time Win '95 was released.

We ended up getting so many complaints about Win '95 that we ended up giving people who bought new PC's the option of having Win 3.11 or Win '95 installed.

The other thing that we did was we had a sign on the desk saying "Downgrade to Win 3.11!" and we offered to 'buy back' Win '95 from people who were having too much trouble with it and giving them Win 3.11 instead.

The numbe rof people who decided to stick with Win 3.11 was quite interesting and I still have a working set of Win 3.11 and DOS 6.22 disks around somewhere.....

[chris]

Doesn't concern me too much, since I'm using XP, but I do have an older computer running NT 4.0 Workstation though.

I gave up 98 since it was far too unreliable, while XP is much better. So is NT.

One of the major troubles now is getting really old games working, that is, dos stuff.

[Venom800tt]

Hmmm, my dad's old laptop still has Win 98...
For some odd reason when I try to install Win XP Home the hdd stopps, the monitor goes off and the power stays on. So I guess it will have to stick with Win 98 :(
At least it rarely crashes....

[NewWheel]

Good news for all us who still prefer to use older OS-es :)

Here is a copy from support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;[LN];LifeAn1 M$ support page:

Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Millennium Support Extended
Key Dates:

* Paid incident support for Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and
Windows Millennium Edition (Me) is available through June 30, 2006.

* Customers can request security fixes for Windows 98, Windows 98 Second
Edition, Windows Me, and the most current version of their components
until June 30, 2006 through normal assisted-support channels.

* Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Me downloads for
existing security issues will continue to be available through regular
assisted-support channels at no charge until June 30, 2006.

* No-charge incident support and extended hotfix support for Windows 98
and Windows 98 Second Edition ended on June 30, 2003.

* No-charge incident support and extended hotfix support for Windows Me
ended on December 31, 2003. Online self-help support will be available
until at least June 30, 2007.

Details:

Windows 98 and Windows 98 Second Edition support was scheduled to end on
January 16, 2004. However, continual evaluation of the Support Lifecycle
policy revealed that customers in the smaller and the emerging markets
needed additional time to upgrade their product. Therefore, Windows 98,
Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Me will continue to be supported
after January 16, 2004.


Internet Explorer support on Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition,
and Windows Me

Microsoft will provide the following level of support for Internet Explorer
6.0 SP1 (or current version) from Jan 17, 2004 through June 30, 2006:

* Paid incident support.

* Customers can request security fixes for Windows 98, Windows 98 Second
Edition, Windows Me, and the most current version of their components
until June 30, 2006 through normal assisted-support channels.

* Extended hotfix support for Windows 98 and Windows 98 Second Edition
ended June 30, 2003.

* Extended hotfix support for Windows Millennium ended December 31, 2003.

Windows Media Player and other Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition,
and Windows Me Components

Microsoft will provide the following level of support on the most current
versions of components for Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and
Windows Me (such as Windows Media Player 9) from January 17, 2004 through
June 30, 2006:

* Paid incident support

* Customers can request security fixes for Windows 98, Windows 98 Second
Edition, Windows Me, and the most current version of their components
until June 30, 2006 through normal assisted-support channels.

* Extended hotfix support for components of Windows 98 and Windows 98
Second Edition ended June 30, 2003.

* Extended hotfix support for components of Windows Millennium ended
December 31, 2003.

For specific support dates on Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition,
Windows Me, Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, and other components,
visit the Microsoft Support Lifecycle (http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle) Web site.So we got auto-updates for additional 1.5 years... :love: :D

:ghug:

[VQ]

THat shit, we are running 98 on most computers int he house and don't want to put ME on a Latop cos I can't remove the hdd, and I don't have XP.

I thought they were extending support for them till 2006 for the undeveloped countries

[NewWheel]

Uh, just checked... :confused:

Auto-update (Windows update) does not work, only Windows Update Catalog does...

So we will have 'to do it' manually :mad:

I thought that that Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Me downloads
for existing security issues will continue to be available through regular
assisted-support channels at no charge until June 30, 2006. include auto-updates, but M$ says: :nono:! :mad:

[Wazza]

What about my Windows 3.1x ? :")

I think my worst Windows was ME.. So many bugs and crashes, and the best has been XP.

It's good Windows woke up, and realised many people do still use Win 98. Just check webpage statistics, they show the stats of peoples systems such as on my geocities site


Most popular browser visitors use 84.85% use MSIE 6.0
Most common screen resolution visitors have 59.41% have 1024x768
Windows 98 20.25%

[NewWheel]

I checked Windows Update (http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/) with Win 98 today again... and guess what? ... it works again! -^ :D