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Eight years after launching Windows 98, Microsoft is finally washing its hands of updating and plugging security gaps in the aging operating system.
The software giant originally planned to pull the plug in January 2004, but decided to extend support because of the increasing competition from Linux.
This time round, Microsoft is hoping that the remaining users of Windows 98 and Windows Millennium Edition will upgrade to Windows XP, according to Peter Watson, chief security advisor, Microsoft Australia.
"Microsoft works closely with leading retailers to undertake promotions such as upgrade discounts to encourage users to upgrade to Windows XP," Watson told ZDNet Australia.
Analyst firms estimate that there are still between 50 million and 70 million computers running Windows 95, 98 or ME.
Hardest hit by the cancellation of support will be home users and schools, according to Michael Silver, research vice president of client platforms at research group Gartner, who agrees that support has been extended to fight off the threat from Linux.
"Consumers and schools will be most affected by this announcement because they will no longer get security fixes," Silver told ZDNet Australia. "I suspect that Microsoft's original extension of the Windows 98 support date a couple of years ago was, in part, to make sure Linux was not brought in to replace these systems."
Silver believes that as far as the overall security landscape goes, the prospect of millions of unsupported PCs is a "cause for concern." In addition, he said Microsoft may be pressured into creating a fix if there is a serious virus outbreak.
"Microsoft has not fixed every hole in Win9x, but I'm not sure they've been attacked, either. If Microsoft sees a Win9x attack in the wild in the next few months, we would not be surprised if they issued a fix--wide-scale outages are not good for their customers or for Microsoft--but since there is no automatic update, users may not be able to get the fix in time," said Silver.
Silver believes that some users may decide to switch to Linux instead of upgrading to XP, but he said existing applications that require Windows are likely to stop a mass-migration.
"School PCs are likely more at risk. Win9x PCs used regularly on the Internet need up to date security software. Some of these users--companies, schools and governments--may switch to Linux or Mac, but application issues often makes that an expensive option," Silver said.
Dropping support justified
Microsoft's Watson said consumers have the choice to use any version of Windows and dismissed any suggestion that Microsoft has a responsibility to secure older versions of its software.
"This issue is not unique to the IT industry. For example, there are many people on the road who choose to drive the latest cars with the latest safety features, such as ABS brakes and air bags. But at the same time, there are many others who are happy driving their cars which may not have these features," he said.
"It is not the responsibility of automotive manufacturers to have their customers acquire the latest technology. This is the same issue for makers of mobile phones, washing machines, dishwashers, TVs, fridges, radios and so on," Watson said.
However, Watson said Microsoft would try to "encourage" users of Win9x systems to upgrade to XP.
"Microsoft encourages users to upgrade to Windows XP and provides information which helps educate users on the benefits of upgrading, but it is ultimately the customer's choice," he added.
Gartner's Silver said that although there are still millions of Windows 9x users, compared with alternative operating system vendors, Microsoft's support schedules are still "better than most."
"Most software vendors and hardware vendors are no longer developing Win9x drivers for their new products--and have not been for some time now. Further, most free Linux distributions are supported for a year, some for two. Microsoft has supported Win98 for eight years, 98SE for seven years, and Windows ME for six years," he said.
"These do not meet Microsoft's current enterprise standard of 10 years--they shipped before the 10-year policy--but they're better than most," Silver added.
Munir Kotadia of ZDNet Australia reported from Sydney.
See more CNET content tagged:
Michael Silver, Microsoft Windows 98, Gartner Inc., Linux, Microsoft Windows ME
"If Microsoft sees a Win9x attack in the wild in the next few months, we would not be surprised if they issued a fix." --Michael Silver, research vp of client platforms, Gartner
Is this guy joking? Several major security flaws are outstanding in Windows 98 and Microsoft has not bothered to patch them (despite only -now- not "supporting" '98) because it would take "too much effort". Michael obviousally has never heard of this.
If you are still running that OS and connect your computer to the Internet, you deserve every attack you get hammered by.
That's exactly what I did. I had an older laptop with Win98SE on it and I just converted it to Ubuntu Linux. It was easy to install and it's very user friendly. It takes a little time to get to get to know Linux, but I can deal with that, especially for the price (FREE!).
I'd rather go Linux or OS X than XP. I don't care what flavor of Windows it is, there's way too many flaws in it. I have another laptop with XP and it gives me nothing but grief, no matter how many times I update it with fixes and patches. I'm looking forward to the day when I can get a Mac to replace it, then I'll be completely Windows free! Free at last!
Either one now beats Windows 98, which I have to admit, I certainly liked back when it came out...
Charles R. Whealton
Charles Whealton @ pleasedontspam.com
I completely forgot about Windows 98. Thought that OS died years ago.
-err, if it'll run on Windows 98, odds are very good that WINE, Crossover Office, or Transgaming's plugins for Linux will run the thing.
Or, if all else fails, Win4Lin on Linux (www.win4lin.com) running an instance of Win98 in it will certainly operate the program, but at the same time keep the machine a lot more secure than a windows-only install would.
If someone is still running Win98 nowadays, it's because 1) their current package OEM computer fulfills their needs, runs just fine, and doesn't require a new computer purchase (makes perfect sense IMHO), or 2) there's something about the newer versions of Windows that they simply do not like (bloat, too resource-intensive, etc)
Microsoft isn't going to be able to do much to capture either crowd...
/P
Win98 had its day but now it's over. Move on. If your business still runs on 98, move on.
Both are online wirelessly for web surfing with free Avast Home 4.7 and AdAware 1.06.
The HP has Front Page and I update webs with it wirelessly using 768bps DSL hooked to a 802.11g wireless router.
DELL support site says XP will not run on that Optiplex, maybe HP says the same: I have not cared to waste an hour to look.
Conclusion: buy more memory, save your files, get your program install CDs, get Windows XP, reformat and install it. Maybe buy some more memory. No need for 512 MB to a 1GB of RAM; these old PCs won't support much anyway.
the tar pits, ready to become extinct. Run away and find
something that actually works.
Linux.
Then you can actually *enjoy* your computer, instead of working
for it. Besides, XP will become a dinosaur soon as well and you'll
be forced into the lumbering cow (Longhorn - sorry, it's now
Vista). Yes, they will be able to force you, since they slip their
killswitch onto your machine as a critical update (they call it
WGA, or Windows Genuine Advantage; although they should
have called it WGD, or Winblows Genuine Disadvantage) ...
Institutions like schools and many business already have these licenses for 98SE and they run the software they need (an Office suite, openoffice.org perhaps?) and a browser.
Finding the money for legal upgrades to XP is going to be the problem, so you can expect that a big chunk of these users will stay with the OS that they have licenses for.
In the meantime, even if Microsoft drops support for these older OS, there will be white hats who will make the patches. And for many of the 98 installations, not having the latest patches is not an issue if the machines are not internet connected (e.g. a school typing lab, or clerical staff at the office).
- It had to happen sometime.
- by angrykeyboarder July 17, 2006 2:49 PM PDT
- To those who think this stinks, I have to ask, just how long should a company offer support for it's products? 8 years is quite a long time. It's well past the warranty period for anything of any kind that you can purchase (computers, televisions, automobiles, microwave ovens and on and on).
- Reply to this comment
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(27 Comments)Windows 98 is horrendously out of date. If you can't afford to upgrade, then I'd suggest staying with it and taking the risk.
Besides, most security holes in operating systems aer overblown anyway. You'd have to go to a lot of trouble to have most of them affect you, the ordinary user.
The other option is switching to Linux. Many Linux distributions will run quite well on a PC designed for Windows 98/ME.
Linux does have a learning curve and it's not quite as simple to use as Windows, but there is all kinds of free online support via web forums and mailing lists. I use both Windows XP and Linux myself.
But just like Windows, Linux distributions are only supported for so long. In fact, most are supported for 2 years or less.
But in that case you easily upgrade to a new distribution (at no cost) with any number of free (as in no cost) distributions.
Popular no-cost distributions include (but are not limited to) Fedora Core, OpenSUSE, SUSE*, Mandriva, Debian and Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Xubuntu**.
I'd recommend using the XFCE desktop (GUI) with any of these distributions if you have an older computer. It runs much faster than the more popular KDE and GNOME desktops. You can install XFCE on any of these quite easily (just check any of the forums or mailing lists for any of the above distributions for details.
If any of this is greek to you, use your favorite Internet Search engine and you'll find lots of help on the web.
If Linux is too intimidating for you, than your best bet it to bite the bullet and get a new computer. The cheapest most inexpensive computers nowadays will be *vastly* superior to any computer that came with Windows 98/ME installed and can be had for as little as $350.00 (I'd recommend spending at at least $500.00).
I just found a (CNET rated "Very Good") PC for just under $500.00 that has a 2.2 GHz CPU, 1 GB of PC3200 SDRAM, on-board ATI Radeon Xpress Video,a 7200 RPM 200 GB Hard Drive and a Dual Layer DVD±R/RW drive.
That computer (which is quite a bargain) makes any PC designed for Windows 98 look like a Dinosaur (and them some).
FOOTNOTES:
*These distributions offer both no-cost and commercial (you have to buy it just like you have to pay for Windows) versions. The no-cost versions are usually released a bit later than the commercial versions (but do include security updates) and are downlodable just like the non-commercial distributions.
**Xubuntu is based on and supported by Ubuntu. It's default desktop is thee faster XFCE (as mentioned above) which makes starting off with XFCE quite easy. Kubuntu features the KDE desktop and Ubuntu itself features GNOME. As previously mentioned, KDE and GNOME run slower than XFCE and it's particularly noticeable on older computers.