End of Support for Windows 98
Posted on January 18, 2006
Filed Under Windows |
On June 30, 2006 Microsoft will officially stop supporting Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Millennium. There will be no more security updates and don’t waste your time calling Microsoft with a technical question.
This is actually the second time the end of support for these products was to occur. Microsoft planned to end support for Windows 98 and Windows 98 Second Edition on January 16, 2004 and Windows Millennium on December 31, 2004.
Just days before Microsoft was to end of support for Windows 98, the date was pushed back to June 30, 2006 because users needed more time to upgrade their operating systems. That’s the official story.
Speculation of course had it that Windows 98 and Windows 98 SE were so prevalent in the market that the public outcry at the loss of support forced Microsoft to rethink their support cut off date.
Software, and particularly operating systems (OS’s), do have a finite lifetime regrettably. This isn’t true of just Microsoft operating systems but all mainstream operating systems from UNIX to Linux to Mac OS to the Cisco IOS. Improvements in technology often necessitate a new build of an operating system and the next version of that OS is the result.
Windows 98 for example was still based on the old Disk Operating System (DOS). In effect, Windows 98 was not an operating system at all but rather a program that ran on DOS. Windows NT, the business class OS that was in production at the same time as Windows 98, was a true operating system that didn’t require DOS to run.
Windows 2000 was the first release of a non-DOS based version of Windows and it was based on Windows NT. With its release Microsoft stopped producing DOS based OS’s altogether and promoted Windows 2000 as being suitable for both business and home use. It was a major step forward in security, usability, and stability.
Today with Windows XP shipping on new computers and Windows Vista on the horizon, the time is probably right to retire the old Windows OS’s that are not based on NT technology. Just as carburetor breakthroughs don’t happen anymore because fuel injectors are simply a better technology, there’s no point supporting legacy OSs any longer.
Hardware and software vendors are already moving toward a world without pre-Windows 2000 operating systems from Microsoft. A fair bit of new hardware does not come with drivers for Windows 98 or Millennium and much new software won’t run on these OSs. To use such hardware or software there is no choice, upgrade to at least Windows 2000 or forget it.
Windows 98, 98 SE, and Millennium are in the final few months of their lifetimes and it’s not necessarily a bad thing. The progression of technology moves forever forward and we can either climb aboard or be left behind.
Comments
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.