You know that Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows ME box that’s working perfectly fine, and perhaps you’ve kept it around because some of the games you play on it won’t work elsewhere?
Well say goodbye to it. Microsoft is using their own defects to force you to upgrade.
It turns out that Sans is reporting that Microsoft will not be issuing a patch for the 95/98/ME systems pertaining to the WMF bug which makes all systems vunerable to all kinds of viruses. Ever.
You have two options. Take your machine off the net permanently, or upgrade to XP, since NT and 2000 are no longer actively supported. And, if you have Windows 2000, you better apply the SP4 Roll Up 1, because there won’t be a Service Pack 5. Ever.
It’s not that these operating systems won’t work anymore, it’s that Microsoft is deliberately leaving you behind. Thank goodness for kind souls that have kept track of the service packs and updates, because someday they won’t be available.
The problem you now face is that the new version of the Microsoft operating system won’t run on your old hardware. Yes, the hardware that’s working perfectly fine.
And, the moment you do cave to upgrade, you are now under the new licensing model, which means you lease, not own, your software.
So with new hardware, new operating system, you’ll also be looking at replacing your office suite and other software.
Perhaps its time to do a price comparison between a new machine and… a Macintosh. You’ll be quite surprised. Especially when you learn Apples can run Microsoft software, too.
UPDATE: You know that copy of XP Home you got? It will be obsolete in a year; check out Microsoft’s published product life cycle.
UPDATE (16-jan-06): It would seem that things aren’t going well for Microsoft with that next generation operating system, as such, the Dec 2006 obsolence has been pushed out to Dec 2008! Two more years of repreive for XP Home users, but what’s the larger message here? And, what’s hardware gonna look like? I’m guessing Apple’s 64-bit dual-core processors will be the norm, while behind closed doors the leap to 128-bits will be in silent works (just like when they kept the Intel migration under wraps).
UPDATE (10-feb-06): My, how surprising. 50% of PCs out there today won’t be able to run the new Vista release from Microsoft. Where could we have heard this before and what can you do about it?