Win95 Lifecycle Draws to a Close

Mr_Perl writes "As many Everquest players discovered recently directx 8.1 is not being made for Windows 95, sending stores everywhere into a frenzy to slap little stickers over the words "Windows 95" on game box system requirements sections. Microsoft has picked November 30th, 2001 as the date that Win95 moves into the unsupported phase of it's career, making it even more useless to those who still keep it around for playing the latest games. Looks like Win98 is slated for execution June 30, 2003."

Comments

When XP is no longer "supported for reactivation"

[Red Moose]

When this happens with Windows XP, you will no longer be able to change parts in an old computer, because doing so would require re-activation, which Microsoft won't make available after a date the company picks.

This is so goddamn true, and has never even occurred to the mainstream press. Or it has and they are just ignoring it. Sometime in the future, probably after the 2003 "end of life" for WIn98, WindowsXP .NET will appear, and MS will say "We no longer reactivate unsupported products" - i.e., Windows XP.

This is the reason I am going for Windows 2000 because hopefully by the time games are no longer made to work on it, say by 2003 or 2004 (whenever the future .NET/XP codebase splits from the 2k one irrevocably), Linux will be mature enough to be a true alternative (playing catch-up with Win32 by KDE and GNOME is not my idea of an alternative, unless you are a MacOS freak who thinks that running Office 98 on MacOS really is "Thinking Different").

The End of my Windows eXPerience, I guess...

[ewhac]

Windoze 98 dies in 2003, huh? Well, then I guess that's when I can no longer buy new Windoze-based games for my machine, since there is absolutely no fscking way I am installing Windows XP on this system. I will absolutely not tolerate invasive spyware and pervasive copy protection measures on my machine under any circumstances. Nor will I move to Windows ME Harder, which was even more crash-prone than Win-98.

If game companies wish to continue to enjoy my custom, they can bloody well port to Linux. Hell, I'll even buy a Mac if I have to. But Windows XP will absolutely never cross the threshold of my home.

Schwab

Re:why bash microsoft for this?

[clare-ents]

"
When it's as simple as checking a box during installation (or 5 minutes on the phone, if don't have an internet connection), sends no personal data, and is very non-intrusive (you have to do some major hardware upgrades to force a re-activation, and XP doesn't need the customary yearly re-install like the win9x line), what's the proble
m? It's simply a company protecting their IP.
"

Advance the clock five years. Windows XP is now 'unsupported'. You have a hard disk crash and need to reinstall your operating system. How do you intend to do that when the phoneline has been shut down? Suppose you upgrade your PC after support has been discontinued - new OS for you.

That's not protecting their IP. That's disabling software I purchased.

Do they have a number I can call to register the transfer of my software when I sell it or move it to a different computer?

Secondly, scale this up so every application you have needs to be registered before use, and every audio CD has to be registered against each of your CD players, every book has to be registered against your ebook device. Now, if you think it's a hassle dealing with the insurance company after your laptop got stolen think how bad it will be now after you have to get each and every application reissued to you and disabled from someone elses use.

How does this improve the world we have today?