The Hindu : National : Clock ticking for old Windows

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 05, 2006

National

National

Clock ticking for old Windows

Anand Parthasarathy

Bangalore: The clock has started ticking for thousands of personal computer users in India who are still using the older versions of the Windows software. Microsoft will "retire" public as well as technical support, including crucial security updates, for three earlier flavours of its operating system: Windows 98, Windows 98 (second edition) and Windows Me (short for Millennium).

The software giant has announced, that the cut-off date is July 11. After that, users of these three versions, estimated to number nearly 50 million world-wide, are on their own. In case their system crashes or becomes virus affected, they will have no help from Microsoft. The move will push most of them to upgrade to the current version: Windows XP. The threat first loomed over these users in 2004, but faced with howls of protest, Microsoft relented, till now.

Many Indians have been using the Windows 98 version, long after XP became available for two reasons: the cost of the upgrade and the relative robustness of this version.

But now, they will be well advised to upgrade because in the absence of Microsoft's support, it is virtually impossible to continue using older versions without facing some insurmountable glitches.

The tragedy for most such reluctant upgraders is that they will have a fairly short time before having to go for another (paid) upgrade: The long promised next version, Windows Vista, is now expected in early 2007. In another announcement, Microsoft says it will also stop supporting the Service Pack 1 or SP1, a bundle of patches, for Windows XP. After October 10, only Service Pack 2 or SP2 will be supported.

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