Windows 98 is officially obsolete (and insecure)

From the Bugtraq mailing list

"THERE WILL BE NO MORE (FREE) SECURITY UPDATES FOR THIS PLATFORM (WIN 98).
PERIOD.

According to their lifecycle policy
(http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?id=fh;[ln];lifeprodw) the
free-of-charge support period has ended 30-Jun-2003. But I always thought
that they will still be releasing security updates until the
end-of-life-period, which is, according to the above website, 16-Jan-2004.

However, I was wrong. So, if you're still using Windows 98/98 SE you should
switch to an other OS very soon."

Like most people didn't realize that soon after installing Win98. Nevertheless, for everyone still using computer connected to the Internet w/ Win98, I will be beating down *YOUR* door the next time the internet clogs up with worm traffic. I mean, really, how many of you are using 5 year old equipment? Why would you use a 5 year old OS?!

[Uranium-235]

I'm having to install 98 on someone's computer today. thier system is under specs for 2K.

Seems 2000 pro will be unsupported in 2 years. I won't be upgrading to XP. I'd rather use linux then that piece of crap.

we're still using 98 our network gateway. It's under spec for 2k also. I might be upgrading it to FreeBSD 5.1 though (if there will be a worm that will kill 98 machines).

And you never know, someone might develop 3rd party patches for such things. Or at least we can only hope. I know several schools in the area that still use 98

For your info one of the recent worm attacks did NOT effect 98/98SE, while it killed tons of 2000/XP boxes. This was most likely due to the differences in the old os vs. new os.
Typical Micro$oft for not supporting the older os as promised. I dont upgrade they dont make $$$.
Wish someone would hold them accountible for the bugs in their os that allow worms, viruses, etc.
Heck you'd sue someone if your car crashed as much as your computer does!

[Jason425]

yea.. except you just reboot your comp and it works.. can't reboot cars.. and people die in cars.. xp isn't "that piece of crap" Overall best ms os.. and no crap 2k/xp and 98 are diff.. everything except the uglyness between 2k and 98 are different..

When blaster, sobig and welchia did it's rounds a couple of weeks ago, being on a cable network _SUCKED_, the worst night my shared upstream channel was filled with crap from every tardbox in a mile scanning for other tardboxes, basically ddos'ed my upstream meaning i was stuck with a crap connection

that night i had a dream, a dream that clued users everywhere will one day be able to go door to door with a shotgun, and kill lusers with their virus infested tardboxes!

Originally Posted by Mtlpig

For your info one of the recent worm attacks did NOT effect 98/98SE, while it killed tons of 2000/XP boxes. This was most likely due to the differences in the old os vs. new os.
Typical Micro$oft for not supporting the older os as promised. I dont upgrade they dont make $$$.
Wish someone would hold them accountible for the bugs in their os that allow worms, viruses, etc.
Heck you'd sue someone if your car crashed as much as your computer does!

When did MS promise to support all of their OS's for forever. 98 is OLD and I think it's pretty obvious that it's obsolete. I mean, it's based on DOS, something that has been around forever and barely updated. Mac is pulling their support of their old OS's, you better be using update versions of UNIX or you're out of luck. MS is doing this b/c it's time to let 98 go. granted, sometimes there are flaws in nt code that don't exist in 98 code, but that doesn't make nt worse.

Uranium: i understand your pain. At my work in Chicago, we had to deploy several 98 boxes AND we were using a program that prevented the machines from being changed in anyway. Good to wipe it free of viri/worms, BAD for installing updates. (the program re-imaged the drive on every boot).

Well, the new code, Longhorn, is on its way. It's in beta testing, and is using different code than XP, so maybe M$ will have fixed all their security problems by its release.

o maybe M$ will have fixed all their security problems by its release.

I wouldn't hold my breath!

You must be sitting in a office and not in the field. LOTS of people are still using Win98. You try to convince an office with 10 computers with little or no profit in this market, to belly up the cash to purchase new software and hardware.
If you want to donate your obsolete computers from your palace, i'll send you some addresses...

pinback@aol.com

[Uranium-235]

Paul C!? hha