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They offered support for Windows 98 for how long? And now they're ready to quit on 2000 so soon.
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1789041,00.asp

Probably to force us all into buying Longhorn. Has anyone read much about their security chips they're planning for new computers with Longhorn? Those things scare the s**t outta me.

Luckily, people like us will have our computers custom built (by us).

Maybe the WINE-ers and the guys who are making ReactOS will kick it up a notch.

Hopefully it won't be a requirement by law in the US to have these chips...

That's exactly what worries me. I custom build all my computers so it's not a problem right now. But if something like that is required?

edit:


and


So does this mean we'll have to send our computers to a M$ certified dealer each time we need to reformat them? Arghh, I hope that's just with pre-built computers like Dell or HP. Here's the link to the article:

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-micro26apr26,1,1511858.story?coll=la-headlines-business&ctrack=1&cset=true

Damn you GATES!.

Not content with cornering the whole OS market with XP, they gotta try and encroach on those of us who only trust 2000Pro.

To hell with that, if I upgrade to Longhorn it'll be through a spanking new PC preinstalled with it, at least then I'll have a machine to fall back on when it all goes pear shaped.


Van-B

Windows 98 support was stopped ages ago but they decided to continue it. Personally I have never had to ring Microsoft about there products and if there is anything you don’t know the internet can be used to find out solutions or a local computer shop could fix it, so most people wont have a problem if they did stop supporting it.

And about windows longhorn, Microsoft would make setup as easy as possible because most people will format and network technicians often find it easier/quicker to format so I doubt they will stop this. another reason is they have spent allot of money in making a new installation method for longhorn to cut down the installation time most setups take about an hour to install, whilst longhorn will install in about 15min so I doubt they will spend allot of money when they are expecting it to be installed once by a computer company.

I think the reason behind it will be to stop people booting custom os’s to bypass windows security software.

The problem is when they decide that it's no longer important to support 98 and 2000 in products like DirectX - I mean, what if DX10 does'nt support 98, and DBPro uses DX10 - means you can wave bye bye to anyone who would play your game but is still using windows 98.

I know that's a pretty grim case and hopefully we won't have that problem - but what is to stop them doing a 95 on 98se and kicking it into touch totally. Half the PC's people drag into me at work to reinstall are below 1ghz, and there's nothing better for a <1ghz machine than 2000 - it's incomparable to XP in terms of stability.


Van-B

Windows 2003 has replaced Windows 2000...
Windows XP/ME had replaced Windows 98...

Sorry but these products did have 5-6year life-times. I didn't see anyone complain when support for 95 just dropped without a word only 3years after release.

While Microsoft might make quite a bit of profit, people aren't ACTUALLY buying Windows 98/2000 anymore. YOU can't buy them, they're obsolete.

It's like Dark Basic, as soon as Professional was out.. BAM support was dropped. There were some minor complaints but on the whole most people just said 'hey if you don't like it upgrade'

It's stupid how considering this is Microsoft people are like 'this is totally irrisponsible and out of order of them'.

Bollocks... it's an obsolete product. Windows 2003 is just AS stable as 2000, and it's designed to integrate everything from the last 4years of development.

It's expensive and time consuming supporting an obsolete product. Microsoft already employ over 200 employees for the United States alone, to provide support to thier older product lines.

All that dropped support means is 'No more online updates', which really most stable enough as is (THATS WHY YOUR USING THEM NUMBNUTS!) and also no more telephone calls... which I dunno about you, but I've never phoned Microsoft without one HELL of a good reason.

Like to Activate Microsoft Office... even then I seriously contemplated getting a friend to look for a keygen for me.

On the other hand though, why should we keep paying for operating systems, why should Microsoft be able to force people to upgrade by dropping support for products they sell.

2003 is not an upgrade for 2000, 2000 is 2000 is 2000! - I can still go and buy 2000 Pro - it's actually more expensive than XP - go figure . It's like when people say XP is just 2000 with a better 'skin' - nope, I'm afraid I use a XP machine for 8 hours a day then spend the night on a 2000Pro machine. The only systems I've seen using 2003 are servers.

It's like Sony kicking in my front door and demanding that I buy a 48" widescreen TV or else they'll stop showing BBC1. How much is longhorn gonna cost? - considering XP Pro is still retailing at £210 a pop 3/4 years on, I can safely say that I'd be stupid to spend £210 on a PC worth less than that.


Van-B

Just don't do it...they try to arrest you then kill them




It was crap! I worshipped 98 when I got it, but only because of the quick launch bar. (also I was 8, I couldn't notice the difference )





At the moment I'm attempting to migrate to Linux..this does mean keeping an XP partition alive, because it runs DBP and is stable compared to nothing (ie better there than nothing there). However I can't my damned hard-drive to partition

I bought Windows XP Service Pack 2 (Professional) for £90 recently.
Regular price is between £75-120 depending on the store.



Just don't do it...they try to arrest you then kill them[/quote]

TPA is currently being built-in to motherboards, and apart from the AMD Opteron and VIA C3 it is currently planned for Processor. Those processors are exceptions because they're already running TCPA On-Chip.

IBM will be integrating it in to thier 2006 PowerPC Processors, at the start of the FY06. (July for those wondering)

The bill that is up for passing is to make it illegal NOT to have the hardware, but that is stupid as it would cause a major problem. It would force America to basically drop all of thier computer hardware and give the law one more superficial problem to worry about.

Hardware Protection is the way forward, and is hardly a novel idea.
Just typical PC users are the ones who are 'afriad' of new technology.



Businesses don't yet see the point in upgrading, Windows 2000 is still performing the job they want it to.



That's your choice. I have Windows 2000 Professional, but I don't use it. The compatibility with new technology is horrible, it kept crashing and refusing to run programs I wanted it to.

That's why I always had Windows Millennium Edition, and only used Windows 2000 with programs that required NT. It's built for business use, and doesn't really support much outside of business use.

I've had more problems getting games, and DirectX based software to run happily on Windows 2000 than I have in Windows XP.

Since Service Pack 2, both Home and Professional are now the same Core OS. Windows XP Home is now far more stable, useable, compatible, etc..

Windows XP Professional has been for the last 4 years, and will continue to be even after 'Longhorn' is released the most compatible, stable, Microsoft Platform. With the exception of Windows 2003, but that Operating System is just the XP version of 2000 Professional. That is EXACTLY what it was designed to replace.

It's cheaper than XP, you can use it free for 180days, it's FASTER than XP/2000, it has better .NET compatibliity than XP/2000.

Quite frankly the reason businesses don't want to upgrade is they don't want to spend out the money, and most people using 2000 have never even tried 2003 despite the free trial. (which is renewable btw, so you can keep using it free)

While you can compliain about 'why your being forced to upgrade'... the fact is. You not being forced to do anything. If you feel Windows 2000 is stable useable platform, then keep using it.

People are still using Dark Basic despite support for it stopped 3years ago. Just don't complain when there is a bug or potencial vunerability uncovered, because it was your choice to stick with older hardware.

Linux doesn't even support inter-builds between Kernel changes. If you want support on Linux then you HAVE to upgrade each time they change the kernel, you don't get a choice.
People don't complain at that because Linux is free, but the business versions aren't and that's why you see companies using obsolete versions of Linux on obsolete hardware... yet these builds are only 2years old.

Atleast with Microsoft you know the lifetime of the product is going to last a while, and even once official support stops... unofficial support remains because you have such a big userbase.

Linux is like a video game, once a new one comes out everyone throws the old one away. Apart from a few die hards.
Windows however is like a car. Everyone knows they should upgrade, but sometimes it's just too expensive or you like the way things work and look.. so you just rely on mechanics who service the old girls.

theres still room to get a mac and or an sgi