Planned Obsolescence

[billzant]

Dear Forum,

How are you?

In an earlier thread the lack of support for Winsows 98 and ME was discussed.

I just received this in a Microsoft Security Bulletin:-

Welcome to the Microsoft Security Newsletter for Home Users--a monthly newsletter bringing security news, guidance, updates, and community resources directly to your Inbox. Subscribe to the newsletter here <http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=5174373>.

Correction

The July Microsoft Security Newsletter for Home Users incorrectly stated the date on which Microsoft will no longer provide support for Windows XP Service Pack 1. The correct date is October 10, 2006 <http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=5174374>. Microsoft regrets the error.

So now SP1 is not supported. How soon after Vista is out will they stop support for SP2? there must be a clear market for somoene else to support Windows?

But then Microsoft probably plan the securoty holes and already have patches ready?

And these people are trying to clamp down on the East as pirates?

Hope you are keeping well,

All the Best

Bill Z

[Tywais]

So now SP1 is not supported. How soon after Vista is out will they stop support for SP2? there must be a clear market for somoene else to support Windows?

If you look at how long between SP1 release and current SP1 support stopping or from Win98 to XP release and Win98 support stopping you are talking a few years. Practically it will be several years (I guess 3-5) before XP support is cut back due to the significant number of platforms out there that can not handle the requirements of Vista.

[higgy88]

Planned obsolence is exactly right, and it may come sooner than you think. What microsoft does and what they say may be entirely different. I can only speak for windows 98. They claim that they have been supporting this platform for many years, when in fact they have not. The stopped offering security updates for windows 98 through their windows update website in 2001 or 2002, I really don't remember exactly when, for the following editions and/or languages; Arabic, Greek, Hebrew, Slovak, Slovenian, and Thai, and the windows update site continues to say that up to and including today as I just looked to get the languages right. I assume it didn't matter whether you had a legal operating system or not. It was still possible to manually download and install updates from their windows 98 download website, but that came to an end with the last security update dated June 27, 2003. At that point I assume that they no longer even wanted to allow people still using those versions of Windows 98 to be able to get any more security updates. That was more than 3 years ago. Now for today. If you have an old computer that cannot use windows xp, then they want you to throw it away. They are also allowing windows xp users to prove to them they they in fact have legal versions of their operating systems. You still have a choice, but in the neare future what do you think they going to be doing to those people who, for what ever reason, do not wish to participate in their genuine advantage program? Just look at what microsoft has done in the past, not what they say they are going to do in the future.