Posted on 06/13/2006 4:44:56 AM PDT by Jedi Master Pikachu
Windows 98 in factory, AP Microsoft has decided Windows 98 is too old to continue patching One of the biggest security updates for more than a year is due to released by Microsoft to fix 12 software flaws.
Nine of the updates apply to the Windows operating system and one is deemed critical, a rating reserved for the most serious security problems.
At least one of the loopholes being patched is already being actively exploited by malicious hackers.
Windows users are being urged to download the patches as soon as they become available on Tuesday 13 June.
Support shift
Microsoft issues its security patches on the second Tuesday of every month and June's update will be the biggest for more than a year.
This is because Microsoft is not only tackling security problems but also the fallout of a legal case that the software giant lost.
We strongly recommend that those of you who are still running these older versions of Windows upgrade to a newer, more secure version, such as Windows XP SP2, as soon as possible Microsoft advice Microsoft gives advance notice of what is in its security patches to help companies plan how best to install the software and limit the impact on day-to-day business.
While most of the updates apply to Windows, two are for the Office suite of products and one for the Exchange e-mail server software.
One of the security problems being tackled in Office was found in Microsoft's Word software and the virus created to exploit it has been dubbed Backdoor.Ginwui. The virus and loophole were first discovered in mid-May.
The virus travels in an e-mail bearing a Word document that purports to summarise the results of a US-Asia summit.
Legal woes
Another of the updates has come about as a result of a courtroom clash between Microsoft and Eolas over technology in the Internet Explorer browser. The lawsuit ended with a $521m (£283m) judgement against Microsoft.
Microsoft had to re-engineer Internet Explorer to stop a technology known as ActiveX automatically starting when users visit some websites.
Before now, users could choose to apply this change to their browser, but this update makes it mandatory.
At the same time as information about the update was being released, Microsoft mentioned that it will not be able to patch Windows 98 and ME against a loophole discovered in April 2006.
Fixing this bug in the ageing software would require a major re-write of the Windows Explorer program used in these old copies of the operating system.
Microsoft is not prepared to undertake this work, given that all support for Windows 98 and ME ends on 11 July 2006.
On its security blog Microsoft wrote: "We strongly recommend that those of you who are still running these older versions of Windows upgrade to a newer, more secure version, such as Windows XP SP2, as soon as possible."
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They're smart to drop 98 and ME, even though I know quite a few people who still like 98. The older OS can only adapt so much, and beyond that, it's crippling MS to try to keep it relevant to newer machines and applications.
I use an older computer (600Mhz) and it ran so poorly under Win98ME I thought I was going to have to get a new one. Upgrading to Win2k was like buying a new computer, all of the crashes and problems went away and it's been running like a Swiss watch ever since. They also stopped supporting Win2k and hope to eventually move everyone to XP, which was never as user friendly as Win2k.
I agree. I still use 2000 on my home computer, and dread the day I'll have to move to another operating system.
Sometims you wonder if the net is worth it.
Cost of Computer ,telephone line, ISP, softwear at $450 a pop, firewalls, anti-virus. Costs are getting to the point that it just isnt worth it.
About 25% of the PCs out there are still running 98 or Me today, in 2006. I can't help but wonder if MS isn't setting itself up for the mother of all class-action lawsuits if some hacker decides to do something major with one of those Win98 holes that MS just can't be bothered to fix.
I think they cover themselves as long as they officially announce that they are no longer supporting it. I think.
They haven't really stopped supporting it - it's on "extended" support until 2010. "Extended" support meaning they'll provide security patches, but they won't add any new features, there won't be any service packs, and there won't be any bugfixes for non-security related issues. If that's okay with you, there's no reason to stop using it just yet.
Good grief, windows 98 is 8 years old. In the computer industry that is ancient for software and there is no question it is obsolete.
Froogle XP pro upgrade and you can find a genuine copy for around $100 (for owners of 98, ME, 2K). XP has it's own firewall and you can obtain decent, free (yes free) antivirus programs from several places on the net.
How wrong you are.
I use Win98 and 100% of my applications running were supposedly MS XP apps, like the XP version of office,or are not Microsoft apps at all - like my browser (Firefox), Email (Thunderbird), media players, and others.
There are twice as many security holes in XP as left in Win98. Every OS from Microsift has been a "bastard" created on top of what preceeded it. None were total re-writes, and thus the security holes and patches have increased over the years with each "new" release.
The best thing Microsoft could do for the user world would be to sell Win98 to a company that will keep it going - only the truth of the ability to do that would defeat the phony constant need for "new" OS versions from Microsoft.
Win2k will be supported till 2010.
I'm posting from a computer that I ordered with Win2k back in December 2000. It works much better than its predecessor running Win95/98. Win2k is a professional operating system, and Microsoft will continue supporting it for at least ten years from its initial release date with self-help online support availble after that. The consumer grade operating systems like Windows XP Home don't have extended support.
Below is information from Microsoft's website plus a link about their support policies.
Windows 2000 Transitions to Extended Support June 30, 2005
Published: June 28, 2005
On June 30, 2005, the Windows 2000 product family (including Windows 2000 Server, Advanced Server, Datacenter Server, and Windows 2000 Professional) transitions from the Mainstream Support to Extended Support phase. This transition marks the progression of Windows 2000 through its product life cycle, originally announced in 2002. The Windows 2000 family entered the marketplace in February 2000 and remains a robust, mature product as it enters its 5-year Extended Support life-cycle phase.
Overview
•On June 30, 2005, the Windows 2000 product family enters the Extended Support phase, which continues for at least 5 years through June 2010.
•Microsoft offers a minimum of 10 years' support (5 years Mainstream plus 5 years Extended) for business and developer products. The Microsoft support life-cycle policy provides predictable coverage of Microsoft products and continues to set the standard for product support policies industry-wide.
•Microsoft is not ending support for Windows 2000. During the Extended Support phase, Microsoft continues to provide security hot fixes and paid support but no longer provides complimentary support options, design change requests, and non-security hotfixes.*
Note: The Update Rollup for Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 (SP4) is the final release of Windows 2000.
On this point, you and I are in complete agreement.
However, my other point was that MS can only look back so far in maintaining their Operating Systems, and if they're going to make any appreciable advances, they will have to cut off the older systems, lest they find themselves creating a whole division just to handle legacy software, which, as you say, is best left to someone else.
I'm sure Microsoft has hired many of the best attorneys to make sure they will not have any liability associated with their customers' continued use of unsupported earlier versions of their operating systems.
computer is not free, isp is not free, but everything else can be handled free with open source software.
Well, my 98 system is humming along just fine also.
Sad will be the day when I unpug it and set the new one up in it's place.
They could have saved themselves $billions by never "investing" in the public deception about the "new" versions of Windows to begin with. But then, they would not have had the vaporware to sell to the public that they needed a whole "new" OS and not simply an upgrade. Most of the "new" OSes ahve been thinly disguised attempts top bundle and tie-in (tie-up)more desktop apps in the OS, having few other strategic gambits to play.
I am hoping that my next desktop OS will be a GUI frame on top of Linux with "virtual" OS capabilities to run anything from anyone.
In our lab, we have several Win 98 machines and our IT guys are pressuring us to upgrade them to XP. The problem is that these PCs run $100K instruments. To upgrade the operating system means almost a million dollars in hardware replacements - simply not practical. The instruments function very well, even though they are older. Up until recently, we had a PC running Dos 2.1 that drove an x-ray spectrometer.
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