In what is likely to be a small blow to some resellers, the Microsoft has extended phone and security support for Windows 98, 98 SE and ME applications through to June 30, 2006.
The company had scheduled this support to officially end on Friday 16th January last. While the news may be good for those users happy to continue using Windows 98, some resellers had been looking forward to the prospect of business from customers being prompted to upgrade Windows 98 systems to Windows XP, which may have involved large-scale hardware upgrades.
According to analyst IDC, there are 39 million users of Windows 98 worldwide, which equates roughly to a quarter of all PCs.
Speaking before the decision to extend the support, Lars Ahlgren, global services marketing manager at Microsoft told VNUnet: ‘It’s a huge opportunity for resellers that want to upgrade or support customers.’
‘We want them to continue to support Windows 98, but we won’t be releasing source code. There’s a still a massive number of people – as many as one-third of the UK installed base – using the software.’
Microsoft cited deployments of the software in developing nations as the main reason for the extension.
Microsoft has come under pressure in recent years, particularly by authorities in developing countries, for its attempts to push customers into buying or subscribing to newer, expensive Windows and Office software versions.
Some analysts have said that Microsoft extended its support because it is worried that users may switch to open source alternatives, such as Linux.
Support for Windows NT 4 is due to finish at the end of the year and for NT Workstation 4 by the end of June. Microsoft has not commented on any plans to extend the support period for these products.
08/03/04
Subscribers 0
Fans 0
Followers 0
Followers