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News Source: MSNBC
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Dec. 8 — Microsoft will retire several of its products next week, including Windows 98 and SQL Server 7, to comply with a court order related to its dispute with Sun Microsystems over Java. In a posting to Microsoft’s developer Web site, the company lists several older products that are being phased out and that will no longer be available to customers as of Dec. 15.THE ROSTER OF PRODUCTS to be dropped includes SQL Server 7, Office XP Developer, Windows 98, and a number of Office 2000-related tools and patches. Microsoft said it will update Java-compliant versions of some products by the end of December, including Office XP Professional with FrontPage, Publisher 2002, Windows NT 4.0 and Small Business Server 2000. (MSNBC is a Microsoft -NBC joint venture.)
Microsoft said that after the deadline the products would no longer be available through its MSDN developer Web site or “other channels at Microsoft.” In the posting, dated Dec. 4, the company said the shift was “due to a settlement agreement reached in January 2001” related to a Java licensing agreement between Sun and Microsoft.
Representatives from Microsoft and Sun were not immediately available to comment.
According to an agreement reached with Sun over the distribution of the Java virtual machine, Microsoft’s software has to run Java programs. Microsoft has the right to modify Microsoft’s Java software to fix critical bugs or security holes through January 2, 2004.
In October, Microsoft said it would effectively exit the business of distributing Java virtual machines for Windows but would extend support for its own Java software for nine months until September 2004. At the time, however, the company did not specify which products it would continue to support.
Sun has sought to distribute its own Java virtual machine through court proceedings and in distribution agreements with PC manufacturers.
Copyright © 1995-2003 CNET Networks, Inc. All rights reserved
I also read, when I was updating my 98se, that as from January 04 there would be no more new updates to windows 98+98se from there website.
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well, isn't that cute...
I still have hundreds of hard-working 98 machines out there among my customers. I had heard the end of 98 support was upon us, but i wasn't sure of the dates.
oh well. upgrading-we-will-go, upgrading-we-will-go, hi-ho the OS-o upgrading-we-will go.
I've actually sold a couple of brand new 98 machines recently for reasons of compatability. Some of my customers are getting caught in a pickle. The apps their daily operations depend on don't have 2k/xp compatible versions yet, and win98 is fading into the mist.
guess its things like this that keep the train moving forward though.
aosclay
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Not really such a big deal,they no longer support or sell Windows 95 but all the patches upgrades etc. are still available on their site and elsewhere.
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Those reading this thread are well advised to take some proactive steps:
1. Keep their PCs current with all required Windows Critical Updates and Recommended Updates and Updated Drivers
2. Once they find their PCs running without problems for a few days after their updates, create backup copies of their system using a program like Norton Ghost and save them on CD-Rs.
This will help them to recover their systems to the fully updated state in case of crash.
Those who don't have CD-RW drives, this is the time to upgrade as the prices are reasonably inexpensive and CD-R Discs are sometimes 'free' after rebate in the US!:-)
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The biggest problem I have is with new hardware.... alot of it just doesn't like 98. It's made with xp in mind so if ya want to replace your video card or replace your mainboard you can expect to have troubles.
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*mourns*
Pretty interesting, I had no idea the dropping of Win98 support had anything to do with the stuff with Sun...
The system I have I bought with Windows 98SE preinstalled (and had the system ready for me to add Windows XP to it myself) for compatibility reasons with a few older things, and also just because I still like it.
"THE ROSTER OF PRODUCTS to be dropped includes SQL Server 7, Office XP Developer, Windows 98, and a number of Office 2000-related tools and patches. Microsoft said it will update Java-compliant versions of some products by the end of December, including Office XP Professional with FrontPage, Publisher 2002, Windows NT 4.0 and Small Business Server 2000. (MSNBC is a Microsoft -NBC joint venture.)"
Seems kind of weird that they are still supporting an operating system from 1996, while they are dropping Win 98...
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KURT! Where ya been????????? Haven't seen you in a while. Good to see you're still around. Merry Christmas.
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I've been arond here, but mainly I just read, and offer support when I can. I usually also hang out at OSNews or OSBetaArchive. Merry christmas to you too.
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MS is not dropping windows 98 because of Sun. It was always MSs intention to drop it eventually. Just like there previous win9x OS.
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I'm thinking that this is a very good lesson for reading between the lines. In this case the reporter for MSNBC who just got it off the wire along with everybody else is expecting MS to announce the booting of 98, so that's what they told us.
That has already been done though. Updates for Media Player 6.4 and 9 do not run on 98 boxes for example. Update 828026 to be precise. Another example is update 825119 which appears to concern the XP core of ie 6 SP1 but 98 is not in the list of systems that the update is for, NT and ME yes, 98 no. It's already happened, but I digress from my point.
The press release, which was quoted from only partially giving it the sound of authority, was in fact a notice to all that on Dec 15th MS would pull anything and everything containing stand alone MS Java packages in compliance with the Sun Java court order. What we get instead of that from the great american news machine is that '98 is dead'.
Hello?....There is a HUGE difference between those two scenarios. 99.9% of the masses will register that 98 is dead and never know the difference or care. But if you want to go the Win2000 homepage you can see that they are going to pull SP3 for download on Dec 15th due to the Java lawsuit and that notice was there last week, well in advance of the press release. Hmmm....
As to MS announcing the death of 98, do you remember when they did the same for 95 or 3.1? Of course not, they never did do that, they never will. It won't really ever happen especially now that it has been done so noticeably by our misleading news machine. Of course, the truth is far less exiting in this case and who really cares, but what other news stories has this been done to?
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