windows h& linux history 1833

was But a

Darn. IMO, Win98SE (with some ME patches) was the 2nd best OS, they ever produced. It ranks right after MS-DOS. XP ranks as the most paternalistic, least user friendly, least expert friendly, most pain in the butt, least amount of owner control, most rights for people who don't own the PC, OS they ever produced.

"Microsoft is retiring support for these products because they are outdated and can expose customers to security risks. We recommend that customers who are still running Windows 98 or Windows Me upgrade to a newer, more secure Microsoft operating system, such as Windows XP, as soon as possible."

What?!?! And they don't consider DRM to be an extreme security threat to the PC owner? Ignorance is bliss...

I guess that means I need to buy new hardware also, since my current hardware is to slow to run XP...unless someone created a stripped down XP accelerated hack...or a hack job hybrid version of the cheap version they sold in the orient and a standard US home edition. Of course, then it would be unlicensed version... and you wouldn't get to experience the pleasant process of incessantly updating XP.

Why do they (M$) think of my wallet as their bank account? Why do they think that they, instead of the customer, get to choose when to obsolete an OS they sold? If someone paid for an OS, and the author declares it obsolete, shouldn't the author provide to the customer, at their expense (i.e., free to the customer), an upgrade to the next OS? The customer already paid for an OS. How many times do they think they can charge him or her for an OS? Some corporations get it. Linux users get it. When will enough people get it, to force M$ to change?

Does anyone realize that releasing all of FAT12-16-32-32X patents to the public will definately do good for the world (but reduce money received by M$), but that many of the ideas being implemented via billions of dollars through the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, although noble, are questionable at best? The ideology behind a few of their ideas is even in direct conflict with the strategies that generated Gates', Allen's, Balmer's and M$'s fortune...

Rod Pemberton