Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (
More info?)
glee wrote:
> While I understand and agree with most of your original statements
regarding
> the need to upgrade in order to remain secure online for the most part, I
> don't see how you make the quantum leap that someone using Win98SE three
> years from now will find themselves severely limited in browser
> functionality. Just because IE6 may not be able to handle some of the web
> pages three years from now (just as IE4 became outdated a few years ago),
> does not mean that there won't be capable browsers available that will
still
> support Win98SE....Firefox, Mozilla, Opera, Deepnet Explorer. Gary, I
have a
> 486 with only DOS 6.22 installed, and I can surf the Internet just fine,
and
> use email, using the DOS Arachne browser. Plenty of functionality still
> there. I think there will be browsers available that will operate on
Win98
> and allow all the web's functionality, years from now. Take a look at the
> win3x_wfw_dos group and you will find a number of users still fully
> functioning online, with those old operating systems, and not posing any
> security risks....indeed, many of today's malware won't run on those
systems.
>
> There are currently still a large number of people worldwide, such as in
> Eastern Europe, who still use 486's and even 386's. There are a lot of
users
> right here in the US still using their old Pentium 166, or PII 233. A
> co-worker of mine is very happy since I got him a "new" pc.....a PII 450.
> While I fully understand that legacy hardware is being phased out, that
> simply does not mean that it will no longer be in use. I find that we
"geek"
> types sometimes forget that not everyone buys or builds a new computer
every
> couple of years, and a lot of folks expect their investment to last them a
> long while.
>
> I am definitely not arguing with most of what you are saying....I agree
with
> most of it, for better or worse....but I do not think that Win98SE will
> become quite as "dead" as the picture you paint. As for dial-up, I don't
see
> that changing in the way you describe, and I am quite likely to still be
on
> dial-up three years from now. Other than that, I think we agree. ;-)
> --
> Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
>
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
>
http://www.microsoft.com/communities/conduct/default.mspx
>
I agree with ya, Glen. I think Gary's being a bit of a naysayer here.
There is just WAY too much older stuff out there in the world to believe
that IE6 will be next to useless in 3 years (I think). Or that all
Win98SE machines will be forced to the scrap heap, and only WinXP machines
will useful. (And, again, just for the record, my 1988 Nissan is doing
just fine in this world, thank you.
🙂
Bill, the "Luddite".
🙂
>
> "Gary S. Terhune" <grystnews@mvps.org> wrote in message
> news:u2gQ7SXQFHA.1096@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
>> No, I'm saying that *whatever* web browser you find yourself using in
>> 2008, it will either be severely limited in functionality or it won't be
>> installed on a Win9x system. I just used IE as the primary example.
>>
>> But that's not all I'm saying. Less and less new equipment will support
>> Win9x, dwindling to negligible by the end of the decade, and whatever
>> equipment now exists that supports Win9x will either be incompatible
>> with the rest of the world or will be burned out. Not only that, I'm
>> betting that dial-up connections will be so rare that they will cost a
>> mint to use, and that the alternatives will, again, be entirely
>> incompatible with Win9x systems. Another aspect that I haven't mentioned
>> yet, and which may or may not ever occur, and even if it does will
>> probably take a bit longer than three years to fulfill--In the eyes of
>> many, *Something* has to be done about the wild-west nature of the
>> internet and the resulting *expensive* garbage, invasion of privacy,
>> etc., etc., and I'm guessing it will involve technologies that will
>> force a good part of what's out there today into quick oblivion. Look
>> for this to be a major issue in politics over the next few years.
>>
>> In short, by the end of this decade, even *if* you can make it to the
>> internet, or even run Win9x at all, perhaps, it will be as a child
>> system on a LAN that is based upon XP or later, or, just maybe, from
>> within a VPC. Which kinda defeats the purpose, don't you think?
>>
>> No, I don't think *all* of this will have come to pass in the next three
>> years, but a great portion will have, and my predictions will be fully
>> realized by 2010 or so. So says I.
>>
>> (Hey, what fun is predicting the future if you don't stick your neck out
>> just a bit, <bg>?)
>>
>> --
>> Gary S. Terhune
>> MS MVP Shell/User
>>
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
>>
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm
>>
>> "glee" <glee29@spamindspring.com> wrote in message
>> news:eE$NbJXQFHA.3816@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
>>>
>>> "Gary S. Terhune" <grystnews@mvps.org> wrote in message
>>> news:exaOn%23WQFHA.3336@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl..
>>> <snip>
>>>> Additionally, a vast number of websites, including most of the ones
>> that
>>>> even you probably consider required reading today, will be adopting
>>>> technologies that Windows 9x system with IE 6.1 won't be able to
>> use.
>>>> The situation will be comparable to "text-only" alternate versions
>> that
>>>> were quite common up until a few years ago. (And the current version
>> of
>>>> IE *will* be the last IE that's installable to any Win9x system.)
>>> <snip>
>>>
>>> So you are saying that using an alternate web browser will not allow
>> one to use the
>>> Internet anymore? One must use an XP system's IE or get off the
>> Internet? I am
>>> having a hard time buying that part of your argument, Gary.
>>> --
>>> Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
>>>
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
>>>
http://www.microsoft.com/communities/conduct/default.mspx
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