Bill Gates thinks again.....

Win98 Gets Reprieve
At the eleventh hour, Microsoft has pulled Windows 98 back from the brink. Originally scheduled for the scrap heap this Friday - 16th January, the operating system is getting a new lease on life. Win ME support was scheduled to cease on 31st December 2004
On Monday, Microsoft capitulated to customer pressure and announced that it would now continue extended support for Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition and for Windows ME until June 30, 2006.

Not all bad news then ..................

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Willum

Willum,

That is good news. I am running 98SE on one computer an XP on the other. After removing the bugs, 98 has been flawless for over a year and I like the system. XP has grown on me and is superior in some areas. Would like to keep both systems.

Fran in Florida

Hi Bill,

It is certainly good news for you and I since both of us are still running 98SE. I haven't had any problems to date (fingers crossed) so haven't had any need for technical assistance. I find 98SE to be very stable and reliable. If I ever run into any trouble with the OS my youngest son will bail me out. He built my system and set it up, so I know who to go to if need be! Ha Ha

Thanks for the "heads up" on the latest virus. I'll be on the lookout for it.

Best Wishes, Chuck

Hi Bill,
that's great news. I love win 98 on my laptop , far more than I do xp on my main p.c.
X.P. scares me a bit.
On my old windows 95 Bell Packard & my NEC win 98 laptop , I received a cd rom and a floppy disk , so that if anything ghastly ever went wrong , these disks allowed me to reformat the hard drive and restore the system to the same stage as the day I bought it. I've had to do that once for my laptop, and a couple of times for the old win 95 computer when it totally crashed.

I didn't get the same type of disk set up with my dell xp, so there's possibly another way of doing it, ( they gave me a heap of program cd's) but it just leaves me feeling a bit less comfortable.

( love reading keyboard manuals, hate reading computer manuals)

Anyway that's great news.

best wishes
Rikki

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Bill Norrie:

If you're still using or supporting Win98, that's good news. But don't
celebrate too much: What it mostly means is that Microsoft will continue
to offer limited paid support (at $35 per call) for Win98 users; and may-
-- may--- offer additional security patches and updates for the aging
OS.

Microsoft had previously announced that the Win98 Knowledgebase and
other self-help items would remain alive until 2006. That remains in
effect.

It's great that Microsoft has taken the pressure off Win98 users, but it
doesn't change the fact that Win98 is getting quite long in the tooth,
in tech terms. Even if Microsoft releases additional security patches,
there are fundamental limits: Win98 predates a whole range of
current and new technologies--- USB2, support for huge hard drives,
newer CPU types and optimizations, SATA, etc. etc.--- and there's only
so much back-filling you can do.

Larry Hawk

I too read that post on the Langalist..........

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Willum

also misleading, I ran usb2 on a win98se laptop as soon as it became possible, years before XP came out.

The bottom line question: "Why would you still want Windows 98" ?

Fran said "XP has grown on me and is superior in some areas".
In comparing 98 to XP, I can't think of any areas that 98 is superior. Enlighten me please.

Maybe Bill Norrie knows, now that we all know he reads Fred Langa too.
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Larry Hawk
Technics For All

to save money if you don't want to pay for XP Larry, and never intend to upgrade your other programs, and are content with what you have now, considering that upgrading often entails hardware costs too.

XP is ok since SP1, well supportive of hardware now and superior in its memory allocation and multitasking. My laptop has no floppy built in (SD slot built in instead) no serial and no parallel connectors - it's the similar story in hardware terms; had to buy a usb to serial cable to be able to do unlimited programmable time lapse photography with the digicam and user program the non-wireless mobile phone easily.

But you have no choice when buying a new computer anyway

Hi Larry, I still use Windows 98SE on the laptop PC which I have connected to my KN7000, for file transfer from the sequencer via USB, backing up the SD cards etc. Because it is getting a bit long in the tooth, I doubt if it would work very well with XP and since it does the job admirably, I am relectant to spend time and money upgrading it Like Fran, after applying the appropriate patches from Microsoft, I have had no problems with 98SE.
This laptop is connected via my home network for file transfer to my Desktop PC, but not to the Internet, so security updates are not a big issue.
I recently upgraded my Desktop PC to Win XP with SP1 and had quite a few problems with hardware and software, during the process......

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Willum

Fair enough

There have been reports of problems when updating to XP. For this reason, it is much better to use a clean install.

I understand the "cost" factor, but then again, in my opinion, XP is by far the best operating system Microsoft has developed thus far. I remember the days of Windows crashing with 98, and that blue screen of death?... don't need that either. Besides if cost were a factor, I doubt I, and many others would have upgraded to a KN700. The KN5000 was ok. Of course we upgrade, because simply it's better.

Applications and programs are much more user friendly in Windows XP, compared to Windows98. One Example :
Have a digital camera? Just plug it in the USB, and your pics are easily downloaded to "My Pictures"
An example where XP is REQUIRED is in Windows Media Player 9.0 It is simply outstanding. With Win98 only 7.1 is available. This is true with many programs. Ever get the "Windows XP is Required" notice? What it means is, you got to get with the times dude !


My anology is Windows 98 is like the KN2000, and XP is like the KN7000. Which one do you prefer?



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Larry Hawk
Technics For All

Win XP is better, no doubt. Once you get all the new hardware and bury the old that is.

I preferred Win 98 cause at heart I'm a trouble-shooter/problem solver and Win 98 gave me plenty to do My husband used to say if things were going well for a length of time I'd *** something up, just to try to fix it LOL

I'd prefer the KN7000, do I win?

Larry, just because you and I prefer XP is not a reason to assume that everyone else’s criteria are the same as ours. If someone comes to the forum with a Kn2000 topic you don't give them a lecture on why they should dump it and buy a 7000 - after all you can play a bossanova on both

Whether it's good enough for you, or an area that justifies a disposal of your income is a personal decision. I've got more out of Technics over the years than I've ever got out of Bill Gates

Hi Alec,

Thanks for your balanced and sensible point of view. I've been running 98SE for four and a half years to date and have NEVER had a crash. My system works perfectly. That isn't to say it will not crash. I certainly hope not but readily acknowledge it is always a possibility.

Comparing 98 to a KN2000 and XP to a KN7000 is comparing apples and oranges. I know lots of folks who have had myriad problems with XP. My son, whose expertise is without question and for whom I have a great deal of respect and trust, will not run XP. He has four computers networked in his home, one acting as a server, so is not a novice in the computer field.

98SE does everything I need to do AND MORE! I have no plans to change OS's anytime soon. To infer that 98 is the Model T Ford of operating systems is clearly hogwash.

Chuck

By the way, I play the music on your website, Larry, and it sounds great with Media Player 7.1. I thank you for making the music available to all of us.

This is really a good point, just as when
someone say, if it ain't broke, don't fix
it.
It's not always nessesary to have the newest
but it is very interesting to explore
GJ

Hi Gunnar,

You're right. It is always nice to explore. However, I am not a person who explores just for the sake of exploring. I only explore when a need I've never had before arises. Then I explore ways to accomplish whatever it is I want to achieve. It is probably safe to say I have only used a very small percentage of the capability of Win 98SE. I have a wide range of software that I use regularly. As for the operating system, I seldom have a need to delve into it.

I can truthfully say that I have never had a computer crash (hard drive or otherwise) in the more than 20 years I have been working with desktops. Maybe I'm just lucky. On the other hand I think those who do a lot of exploring and experimenting create many of the problems they face, including crashes, by their actions. And that is fine for some. Not for me. I don't need to know all there is to know about my computer.

Chuck

Hi Chuck.

I'm afraid that I have had more PC crashes than I like to admit,
but as you say, when all kind of stuff being installed and removed
to see what it is, at one point or another something may create a
system conflict.
But at the other hand, this is a good way to learn too, and even
if I'm a bit frustrated at myself when the PC won't do as I wish
and stop work as it should, I just can't let it be .... next time
the PC are up and running, I carry on as usual, so maybe tomorrow
it's a new reinstall session needed
I love to build PC's, install OS and progs, but please don't
mention about doing anything with my car......
GJ

Btw, the worst thing when this happens are that there is less time
to play o9n the KN

I wasn't lecturing anyone, just voicing my opinion.

I wasn't comparing the 7000 to the 2600.
I did compare the 7000 to the 2000. That was my anology, comparing XP to 98.

I understand not everyone can afford WinXP.
If you could, you should.
It's better
That's my point.

But if your happy with 98 technology in 2004, great.

I wonder if we will get more out of Technics, or Bill Gates in 2005.

as far as Bill gates is concerned this year we should get an update to server 2003 but the windows future storage system is probably further away, at least the full version codename longhorn possibly 2005, but this year windows media centre will be added to pocket pc 2003 to give XP media centre 2004, and he will try to persuade people that his portable media centre is revolutionary, when some of us are on our 3rd generation of the concept
As far as Technics is concerned... nothing

I don't believe the pocket pc is in it's third generation. But then again what do you mean by a generation.

I know Alex wouldn't confuse a pocket PC with a palm pilot, correct?

Larry Hawk

Larry,

I am have two computers. 96SE and XP OS's. 98 is like an old shoe. Comfortable to wear and you hate to give it up. I use it with my 7000 for certain operations. I do not clutter it with many other programs. Only those that apply to the keyboard and find I can accomplish my tasks better than using the XP OS and comfortably (like the old shoe). Less hangups than the XP.

I do not know what the Pro XP is like but the Home version was directed to new computer users.
The first thing I did was change the windows to Classic and get away with all of the comics.

XP, I use for photography, the Internet and other publishing tasks.

Both operating systems have their good points, neither is perfect.....what is.

To each his own,

Fran in Florida

Just for your information Larry, when I said I upgraded to XP it was a clean install I was well aware of the problems installing XP on top of 98SE.
Windows Media Player 9 works well on Windows 98 - I've been using it for some time now, including the WOW enhancments etc. OK, it doesn't play DVDs like the XP version, but I prefer to watch my DVDs on a TV set.

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Willum

the next version of pocket pc but nothing to do with palm pilot, which will not be able to compete, portable media centre is a cut down windows xp media centre 2004 which will be licensed to creative, iriver, viewsonic and others to produce "revolutionary" handheld video player/recorders where other manufacturers are on their third generation of such devices.