People Still Use Windows 98

[Lewis]

People are still using Windows 98' but don't take my word for it go here.

http://blog.oldversi...use-windows-98/

 

[th1b.taylor]

People are still using Windows 98' but don't take my word for it go here.

http://blog.oldversi...use-windows-98/

Uggh!!! That is Windoze 95 + 1. I still use Windoze XP in VBox to rum FMS and would pay for a version that would install and rum on Ubuntu 12.04 or Mint 14 w/Cinnamon. I would even be tickled if it ran in Wine or Crossover.

Most folks seem not to know XP can be activated by going into the Regestry but it is not all that tough.

 

[tim-from-pa]

People are still using Windows 98' but don't take my word for it go here.

http://blog.oldversi...use-windows-98/

You want to hear something funny? My workplace uses Windows 98 on this one scanning machine. If that's not bad enough, many of the other production machines use OS2! Isn't that something like 25 year old operating system no longer supported? And the hardware is just as ancient. We've all been warning them for a long time that if (or I should say when) it crashes there's no replacement parts --- they should upgrade now. And then when it fails they'll expect us to flail our arms around like madmen creating time out of nothing to make it work again in a timely fashion. Hate it when management drives something toward a brick wall like this, and then when it crashes we have to somehow make up for their mistakes as if it's our problem for not getting the machine up right away.

 

[th1b.taylor]

You want to hear something funny? My workplace uses Windows 98 on this one scanning machine. If that's not bad enough, many of the other production machines use OS2! Isn't that something like 25 year old operating system no longer supported? And the hardware is just as ancient. We've all been warning them for a long time that if (or I should say when) it crashes there's no replacement parts --- they should upgrade now. And then when it fails they'll expect us to flail our arms around like madmen creating time out of nothing to make it work again in a timely fashion. Hate it when management drives something toward a brick wall like this, and then when it crashes we have to somehow make up for their mistakes as if it's our problem for not getting the machine up right away.

O would laugh Tim but that's not even cute. I drove a Mixer for TXI Concrete as my last ditch effort to earn income and they would not allow the Plant Operator to reboot the plant computer but had to wait for the IT to come out and reboot it.

I had taken another driver, almost my age, under my wing and had shown him a few tricks for building and maintaining Windoze units and he was in the plant office for coffee when it went down.

He walked over and hit CTRL, ALT, DELETE and told the Pant Operator that he was pacing his truck under the Shut and to load him as soon as the unit rebooted.

On his return the President was in the yard and wanted to know who taught him to do that and he said he anmost dropped his teeth when he told him Bill Taylor did and that they needed to crawl into the 20th Century and stop fearing the computer.

This gent only has on issue I've been unable to correct... Windoze... Hutch is scared to death that Linux is to hard to operate. As the People's IT, I'm always switching them to Ubuntu, Mint or Fedora but there are some that can fall in love with my Ubuntu run ThinkPad but refuse to rum a Live CD on their machine to see if they like it.

People can be contrary and all of my IT friends, working for company's, have your issue with their refusal to make timely decisions and the result is always insulting false claims they fell down because of "their" inability to do their job... weird folks!

 

[Lewis]

I used Windows 3.1 at first' as a matter of fact I had about 3 computers with it. Then I went straight to 98 then 98 SE then Windows ME then to Windows 2000 and Windows XP, then Windows 7, now I am running Windows 8.1 and I still have Windows 7 on 2 laptops. I have Windows Vista on a disk and Windows 95 on a disk. But Windows 98 and 98 SE were work horses, they were great operating systems. And they are still usable except the support and updates no longer are supported by Microsoft. I think that Bill Gates and company really learned about things when they put out Windows 98.

 

[Barbarian]

Actually, my first computer at work used CP/M. A Xerox 820. Two huge floppy drives that held one megabyte each. And an even bigger hard drive.

Built like a copier. They never die. My company let us take them when we went over to DOS, and I eventually gave mine away to a trainee.

 

[evenifigoalone]

Windows XP support is ending this month, I heard.

 

[turnorburn]

That's why they pay you the big bucks Tim..

tob

 

[reba]

I think that Bill Gates and company really learned about things when they put out Windows 98.

they forgot it all when they put out W8

 

[Nick]

Windows XP support is ending this month, I heard.

April, I believe.

One of my computers is running xp. Need to decide what to do.

 

[th1b.taylor]

April, I believe.

One of my computers is running xp. Need to decide what to do.

One of the very best systems comes in a Live format, meaning you can download, burn image, and boot from the resulting DVD and test the system, at a greatly slower speed, to see if you like it without changing your Hard Drive. The system, Linux Mint comes with a wide array of desktop operating systems but whether you like 32 bit or the more advanced 64 bit systems, I recommend you choose the Mint 16, Petra, with the Cinnamon Desk Top. This is a very XP like system and is very Windoze User friendly.

The system is based on Ubuntu and has about 40,000 packages available for Click and Install that cost the user zip! These are the same packages a company I worked for paid $30k for in the eighties because they would not hear what I said. These are the same packages used by every Duetch Bank in the world and by many governments of the World. The US Government is even beginning to offer the Ubuntu option when offices need to purchase new units. Dell now offers the Ubuntu option and all Servers sold by HP are now powered by Ubuntu because of the Safety Factor.

I ran the Ubuntu System with the Gnome Desk Top for two years without a firewall and with no AV and had no infections at all. You might want to consider it. I tested Win8 and it is really trash.

 

[TOG]

The city of Munich, Germany switched nearly all it's computers to their own customized version of Linux, which they call LiMux. Whatever people say, this proves that Linux is a viable alternative to Windows.

The TOG​

 

[th1b.taylor]

The city of Munich, Germany switched nearly all it's computers to their own customized version of Linux, which they call LiMux. Whatever people say, this proves that Linux is a viable alternative to Windows.

The TOG​

It's also safe to use to get the worms and bugs out of the windze units I work on for folks. One of my IT friends uses Slacware at work and just drives the windoze feaks working with and for him nuts when their units go offline and he repairs the issues from his unit. When I finished my two year test on my test bed, I sold out to linux. Not long ago I was given an old unit with 64 meg. of RAM and after I installed Puppy Linux on it, it ran like a scalded rat and everybody wanted it for it's speed.

 

[Nick]

One of the very best systems comes in a Live format, meaning you can download, burn image, and boot from the resulting DVD and test the system, at a greatly slower speed, to see if you like it without changing your Hard Drive. The system, Linux Mint comes with a wide array of desktop operating systems but whether you like 32 bit or the more advanced 64 bit systems, I recommend you choose the Mint 16, Petra, with the Cinnamon Desk Top. This is a very XP like system and is very Windoze User friendly.

The system is based on Ubuntu and has about 40,000 packages available for Click and Install that cost the user zip! These are the same packages a company I worked for paid $30k for in the eighties because they would not hear what I said. These are the same packages used by every Duetch Bank in the world and by many governments of the World. The US Government is even beginning to offer the Ubuntu option when offices need to purchase new units. Dell now offers the Ubuntu option and all Servers sold by HP are now powered by Ubuntu because of the Safety Factor.

I ran the Ubuntu System with the Gnome Desk Top for two years without a firewall and with no AV and had no infections at all. You might want to consider it. I tested Win8 and it is really trash.

Thanks, but we won't be going Linux. This particular computer is mostly used by a few people for basic tasks that can be done on Linux, but the people that use it can't properly use Windows even though we've been running XP for the last 9 years and then Win98 before that. I've spoken to them and they don't want to change to Linux, and if we did all my time would be taken up dealing with their questions. Plus I'm not sure how supported some of our hardware would be. We also require many Adobe and other specialist programs and games that just don't run on Linux.

Linux is a good idea, but IMO not for people who don't really like computers. For this reason, and also because of lack of compatibility has ensured it has stayed out of the mainstream computer use for the last 20 years.

We'll probably be going to Windows 8.1 but we'd need to get a new computer first. In the meantime we have no choice but to continue with XP.

 

[TOG]

Thanks, but we won't be going Linux. This particular computer is mostly used by a few people for basic tasks that can be done on Linux, but the people that use it can't properly use Windows even though we've been running XP for the last 9 years and then Win98 before that. I've spoken to them and they don't want to change to Linux, and if we did all my time would be taken up dealing with their questions. Plus I'm not sure how supported some of our hardware would be. We also require many Adobe and other specialist programs and games that just don't run on Linux.

Linux is a good idea, but IMO not for people who don't really like computers. For this reason, and also because of lack of compatibility has ensured it has stayed out of the mainstream computer use for the last 20 years.

We'll probably be going to Windows 8.1 but we'd need to get a new computer first. In the meantime we have no choice but to continue with XP.

The main thing I see that would rule out Linux for you is the specialist software you use. As for hardware compatability, you'll have a problem with that anyway if you move to Windows 8.1. I work for the city and when we migrated to Windows 7, we had to throw away thousands of dollars worth of perfectly good hardware, since there were no Windows 7 drivers for it. Some of our hardware was so expensive that we wanted to avoid throwing it away at all costs and we spent hundreds of hours trying to get those things to work. You'll probably have more problems with hardware moving to Windows 8.1 than you would have moving to Linux, especially if you have older hardware. Old hardware is supported very well on Linux, much better than on Windows.

The TOG​

 

[th1b.taylor]

Your specialty software would cost you nothing except you wish to pay 60 dollars for Tech Support for one year. Crossover is a free download and I paid for the first year of support that I never used but run on both of my units so that the Windoze Only software runs as native.

As stated, I did test Win8 for three months and, honestly, you will spend more time helping your users learn 8 than you will ever spend using Mint. 8 is nothing like XP, even with the Classic Menu installed. MS just went stupid with 8.

But either way, God bless.

 

[tim-from-pa]

April, I believe.

One of my computers is running xp. Need to decide what to do.

Go Linux, that's what to do. If you have cherished programs that Linux (wine) can't run, then dual boot and just keep the "online" work for the Linux and the local apps for the Microsoft. Otherwise, Linux has comparable programs to do the same types of things.

And before anyone gives a sigh or relief that they at least have windows 7, also take note that mainstream windows 7 support ends next year in January also, except you have extended serv$ce until 2020. I guess that's more for businesses. They want everyone to go windows 8, and are openly admitting it. This is reminiscent back in the days they went to XP the operating system did not support a lot of hardware, and people with older hardware were left out in the cold. Microsoft did not care. At least they supported 98 until something like 2006 (five years later) so that people could make the transition a bit more gradually.

 

[TOG]

With Windows 2000, Microsoft stopped supporting DEC Alpha computers, which were some pretty impressive hardware at the time. Many companies had a lot of money invested in these servers and had to decide whether to throw away their hardware to keep using the same software, or whether it would be more practical to keep using the hardware and get a new operating system and software that would work on it. Many chose to switch to Linux and Microsoft lost a lot of customers. It wouldn't surprise me if something similar happend with Windows 8.

The TOG​

 

[th1b.taylor]

With Windows 2000, Microsoft stopped supporting DEC Alpha computers, which were some pretty impressive hardware at the time. Many companies had a lot of money invested in these servers and had to decide whether to throw away their hardware to keep using the same software, or whether it would be more practical to keep using the hardware and get a new operating system and software that would work on it. Many chose to switch to Linux and Microsoft lost a lot of customers. It wouldn't surprise me if something similar happend with Windows 8.

The TOG​

As unChristian as some will think it, this makes me glad. If people insist on paying for their systems, Red Hat will take their money and if they desire to pay for support, Ubuntu will take their money and never force them to go get the free service, available 24 hours a day.

There is even a Chinese version that not only feels like XP, it looks like, also, and is available, free, in English and nearly every other language.

 

[tim-from-pa]

Thanks, but we won't be going Linux. This particular computer is mostly used by a few people for basic tasks that can be done on Linux, but the people that use it can't properly use Windows even though we've been running XP for the last 9 years and then Win98 before that. I've spoken to them and they don't want to change to Linux, and if we did all my time would be taken up dealing with their questions. Plus I'm not sure how supported some of our hardware would be. We also require many Adobe and other specialist programs and games that just don't run on Linux.

Linux is a good idea, but IMO not for people who don't really like computers. For this reason, and also because of lack of compatibility has ensured it has stayed out of the mainstream computer use for the last 20 years.

We'll probably be going to Windows 8.1 but we'd need to get a new computer first. In the meantime we have no choice but to continue with XP.

I think you really ought to re-evaluate what you are saying. With all due respect, you seem to have this idea that Linux is a minority OS only used by a few on a handful of laptops and desktops by geeks. Most of our mobile devices are based on Linux. Do you know that Android is a Linux kernel? How about Google chrome book? Guess what? Linux kernel. Even Apple uses linux-type platforms. This is why there's little or no viruses on all of these, as I have yet to hear of any malware on any of those platforms personally. Only Microsoft including their windows 8 phones.

Linux is sneaking into our device market, smart phones, androids, nexus pads and chrome books while some loser pawnshop characters and Microsoft say "don't get scroogled" wanting you to buy either Microsoft laptops which even with windows 8 gets viruses, slows up, and needs "tune-ups" (some things in life NEVER changes) or desktops instead of reliable computer devices that will actually work without the attitude.

So yeah, I will admit that Linux does not have a really big laptop and desktop market, that is to say, that which a user installs himself. However, like I mentioned, it's sneaking it's way into everything else. I can't understand why you would want to struggle with Microsoft's OS day in and day out when you can have something without the attitude, unless you love pain from a jack-shoot operating system?