The commonly used term in the IT industry to describe products no longer being supported (both hardware and software) is “end of life”. The products may still work and even be in popular use, but the manufacturer or supplier has decided that it is no longer worth maintaining them. Mostly, this means that not only will the products get no further enhancements or improvements, they will also not be fixed if any problems, bugs, or weaknesses are discovered.
This can be quite important, in two areas. Firstly, the 'bad people' out there are constantly trying to find new ways to break into and take advantage of computers. This is why every Tuesday of every month, Microsoft released patches and fixes for various products they are responsible for – known as “Patch Tuesday”, millions of computers around the world automatically download and install the relevant patches. Unfortunately, millions more do not, as their owners are unable to see the point or refuse to take the (small) time required – these are the computers that get recruited into botnets, and get used and abused by spammers and hackers. Now Microsoft have stopped releasing any patches for Windows 98, even for known vulnerabilities being used against Windows 98 owners.
The other area is usability. Software development is an ongoing process. Compare what you can do and how you do it using software from Windows 98 era to the equivalents of today, and you will see radical differences. You can do so much more, so much more easily, quickly and securely (assuming you have taken the trouble to learn how, of course – learning to ride a motorbike does not mean you know how to drive a car). Even so, Microsoft have released a steady stream of improvements and updates to Windows 98 to make sure it continues to work reasonably well in today's IT environment, adding capabilities to permit the use of new technologies. That has now come to an end.
Windows 98 and Windows ME are effectively 'frozen' operating systems, and they will get left further and further behind modern operating systems. It will become increasingly hard to install or upgrade applications, link to current hardware (eg. cameras), and protect against internet threats. Anti-virus providers will cease providing updates, and other application vendors likewise stop supporting their Windows 98 and Windows ME versions.
So when Microsoft announce Windows 98 and Windows ME are 'end of life', it is worth taking notice. The trouble is, simply installing a newer operating system is a traumatic process. Things stop working, new hardware is required, or new peripherals are required as the old ones will not work any more. Remember though, you can always switch to open source – Ubuntu is old-hardware friendly, and user-friendly. Sadly though, whatever you do, if you are still running Windows 98 or Window ME, you are between a rock and a hard place. See an IT professional for help.
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- Tony Phelps is part of the Merlin Pacific IT team, dedicated to effective & efficient business IT.
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