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2:14 PM EST Mon., Jan. 12, 2004
Microsoft has extended paid support on Windows 98 until June 2006.

The Redmond, Wash., software giant planned to pull the plug on all support for Windows 98 and Windows 98 SE on Jan. 16, 2004, but decided to extend paid incident support until June 2006 after facing customer pressure, a spokesman confirmed.

No-charge incident support and extended hot-fix support for Windows 98 ended June 30, 2003.

While paid incident support was due to end Jan. 16, 2004, Microsoft changed course to accommodate many customers in emerging markets who asked for the extension, one Microsoft spokesman said.

Microsoft also wanted to bring Windows 98 SE into compliance with the company's current life-cycle policy for new products, which provides for support for seven years instead of the original four, the spokesman said. The extent to which that decision was motivated by U.S. customer complaints, however, remains unclear.

One systems integrator said it's possible many U.S. companies objected to the end-of-life policy for Windows 98 as well.

"Discontinuing support for still widely deployed versions of three-year-old products is purely an attempt to drive revenue by forcing customers to upgrade," said Ron Herardian, CEO of Global System Services, Mountain View, Calif. "The challenge Microsoft faces is that existing/deployed software is often adequate for current business uses. The market is far less amenable to new technology products and solutions than it was in 2000, so Microsoft has to find ways to drive its new products into the market."

One Microsoft solution provider said he understands the drivers but he won't be happy to support a version of Windows that is antiquated and more prone to security problems.

"I have no doubt that Microsoft is bowing to customer pressure, and I applaud them for listening to customers," said Michael Cocanower, president of ITSynergy, Phoenix. "Microsoft is not the only organization that bears the support burden for their products. We as partners also bear a portion of that load. When they extend support for a product, it means that we as partners have to continue to keep our field staff trained in outdated technology."

He also said customers sometimes need prodding to upgrade but are usually pleased when they do. And he said the security and manageability of Windows 98 in a corporate environment is a joke. "I am not excited that it will be around for a couple more years," Cocanower said.

Microsoft on Monday also said it decided to extended paid support for Window Millennium Edition until June 2006. Windows ME support had been scheduled to end Dec. 31, 2004.










URL : http://www.crn.com/sections/BreakingNews/dailyarchives.asp?ArticleID=47165

Wonderful isn't it!
http://www.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=23674&b=2
At the current time both 98 & XP have between 25 and 50 percent of the computer OS market!

oh woops you caught that as well

They can install XP on my machine when they prise the mouse from my cold dead hand (and install it themselves).

I use 98se and have no love for XP - it tries to do too much for itself and I don't trust it. I mean if you want XP on a PC on a network, you need XP Professional, that's about £130 per PC!. I mean open the task manager in XP and there'll be about 20 processes running, do the same in 98se and you'll usually only see 3 or 4. Seems Microsoft prefer to bloat their operating systems rather than improve them.


Van-B

Thus why I use 2000 pro, networking support, without all the XP Bullsh*t processes(only some of them), clean, and dosen't crash on me. I wish I could still use 98se though, but software like Sonar 3, and Project 5, require me to use 2000 or above.

can you still buy 2000 tho?

Yes. I saw Win2000 in a 'Staples' store near me. It was like $100.

Ugh, any version of windows was better than 98--- well except ME.... and, uh, '95... but yeah. I find that Win 2k was the most stable and had the best of both worlds. 1- Not as bloated as XP, and 2- No blue screens like 9x.

- JeKu