Did a double take but is M$ heling out?!?

[onpnt]

I really thought there was a hidden motive but after reading the news this morning it appears M$ is actually helping out other then helping themselves out in regards to their recent notiv=fications of ending Win98 support

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12013-2004Jan13.html?referrer=email

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[sleipnir214]

I think the telling paragraphs of the article are these:

Microsoft has come under pressure in recent years, particularly by authorities in developing countries, for its attempts to push customers into buying or subscribing to newer, expensive Windows and Office software versions.

Many countries have started to buy computers that run on the freely available Linux system, while others hang onto older Windows versions that have been paid for and still do the job.


I don't see this as altruism. I see this as Mi¢ro$oft's buying time in developing markets.


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[sleipnir214]

Here's another take on Micent;ro$oft's extending support for Win98:

http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-5139946.html

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TANSTAAFL!!

 

[onpnt]

and as usual a aspect of imagination to think M$ is trying to extend there arms is shot down

The portion of the developing countries didn't weigh as heavily on my reading the washington post article. All to often that has not effected M$'s undertaking of how they do their forceful process of business. In this case things seem to be getting thrown back in their face.

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[dilettante]

Well, while I personally still think desktop Linux isn't worth what you pay for it (even when it's free) - competition is competition. I refer to desktop Linux because the thread is about Win98, which not too many really view as a server OS. ;-)

If that competition results in better (longer, etc.) support for MS products, so much the better. This will be good for all of their customers.

Whether Linux finally matures down the road, or some other OS rises to replace it based upon the many things the Linux community has done (and is doing) right, I will welcome serious alternatives.

My own issues with Linux fall mostly into the categories:

* Weak hardware support (always improving, but a moving target).

* Instability (everyone complains about MS releases but try running a substantial desktop application designed for distribution X version Y on distribution A version B).

* Lack of application support (getting better month by month).

* GUI shell mania (Linux makes it harder to develop applications because you need to pick and choose graphic library targets for specific GUIs or families of same).

* Lack of anything remotely as slick as ActiveX (which I could be all wet about, be glad to hear more - and please, no jeers from the peanut gallery, the vulnerabilites associated with ActiveX are often just a side effect of its power - and I don't excuse any real flaws myself).

So I see this as a positive move overall. If pressure is what it takes to get MS to do this - so be it. If Linux is providing that pressure - hey, I thank the Linux community.

 

[lionelhill]

Whatever the reasons, this has to be a good thing. I have no doubt a lot of anti-microsoft people will read all sorts of dark motives into it, and the pro-microsofts will be equally convinced this shows just how altruistic microsoft are.

But however you look at it, having to throw away functional machines and software is so badly environmentally unfriendly, and so pointless. It can be worse still when the PC operates some other instrumentation, and you end up throwing that away too. It's really good to see functional but old IT equipment getting some support. It's superb to see a company the size of microsoft appreciating that not all of us live in XP world desperately itching for the day we can buy longhorn or whatever.

 

[theoxyde]

And then there are those of us that want to move forward and have been patiently waiting for Win9x to finally go the way of the dodo.

 

[dogbert2]

I agree, Microsoft 98/98SE was ahead of it's time (a vast improvement over Win95), but like all things, it's time is at an end. Since Microsoft cannot SELL 98/98SE any longer (due to court agreement with Sun), does it make any sense what so ever to continue to support an operating system which is (for all intents and purposes) outdated?

Most vendors of products on the Market (at least in the US) don't even state 98/98SE on their packaging, and companies developing are going to be developing for XP/2000/2003 and the future.

There is one other thing to consider, and that is the hardware issue (the typical system which runs windows 98/98SE is at least 4-6 years old. Perhaps you could get parts to repair such a dinosaur, but with new computers costing less than $700 for everything (and bundled with XP itself), why would Microsoft want to shoot itself in the foot like this (not to mention, i'm sure MORE than a few persons at Microsoft were hoping they could tell customers calling - "We don't provide paid incident support for that product any longer".

They pulled the plug on Win95 more than 2 years ago, and NT Workstation 4.0 last June (though NT workstation 4.0 is a vastly superior product than 95/98/SE/ME).

I hope microsoft raises the per incident support charge for phone assistance to say $300 a call (I think it's $215 right now). The simplest way to get companies to stop using a product is to not provide security fixes and patches for the product, and we all KNOW the history of MS when it comes to Security issues (sigh).

 

[lionelhill]

I'd better go and thow away my mass spec then. OK, the computer can be replaced for £700, but the new computer won't be compatible with the old mass spec. Still, who cares? The mass spec's not worth more than £60,000. It's working perfectly, but why should that matter? The needs of the £700 computer of course come first. I'd hate to stand in the way of progress. I hope the tax payer understands.

 

[dogbert2]

You would think the persons who make the old Mass Spec machine would have taken future computer operating systems into effect when writing initial versions of the software which went along with it. That way, rather than retire the machine, simply upgrade the software (which would probably provide more benefits).

The issue with Win98 is simply that of support, i'm sure 6 years from now, people will still be using win98, with no support from Microsoft what so ever (never mind the security holes, if it's connected to the internet), but what the heck, that's how DDoS gets started (failure of end users to keep their systems up to date and secure).

Perhaps we need to start licensing people in order to use a computer?

 

[lionelhill]

It'd be nice if they had. The trouble is that instrument manufacturers are struggling to do something technically difficult, often at the edge of their technology, and their market is not so very big. They haven't got the resources to play guessing games about what operating systems will look like in 5 years. 5 years is a very, very long time in the world of software, or even PC hardware, but it's not a lot of lifespan for a physical machine. I mean, would you buy a fridge that you knew was going to be obsolete in 5 years? There's a serious mismatch between instrument hardware/manufacturing equipment etc., and the PC gadgetry that controls it. It's an expensive and environmentally disastrous mismatch.

 

[dilettante]

Everybody makes some good points here.

I too would rather see 9x disappear off the face of the earth in general. But I still have a few niches where 9x (even 95!) is still the only answer for various reasons. There are a lot of small-run embedded projects out there using things on the order of 98Lite. The budgets are too small for the costs associated with XP Embedded or something, and NT (4.0, 5.0, or 5.1 aka WinXP) doesn't lend itself to such "slimming" as readily.

If conditions exist that make supporting it (9x) further worthwhile, I am all for it!