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Sep 28 2009   3:08AM GMT

Behind the times



Posted by: Brien Posey
migration, Windows 7, Windows 98

As someone who writes about technology for a living, I pretty much have to use the latest version of all of the software that I write about. As such, it is easy to forget that there are people out there who do not always keep their systems up to date.

Yesterday I got a phone call from an old friend who is a business owner, but who is not involved in the IT industry. He had been seeing all of the Windows 7 commercials on TV, and wanted to know what I thought about it. After giving him my honest critique of the new operating system, he asked me a question that just floored me. The question was “Is it better than Windows 98″.

Obviously, WIndows 98 has worked well for my friend, or he wouldn’t have continued to use it for all this time. I shudder to even think about what the migration process is going to be like though. I guarantee that Microsoft doesn’t have a Windows 98 to Windows 7 migration path documented on the Internet anywhere. I just can’t help but wonder if there are other organizations who are still running pre-Windows XP operating systems and have decided that this is the time to upgrade.

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JennyMack  |   Sep 30, 2009  7:56 PM (GMT)

I have seen a handful of people I know still using Windows 98 and 2000…. if they see no immediate reason to change, they won’t. Usually this issue of “antiquated” operating systems is resolved by “force” — when a computer dies, the new one comes with updated software. Other than that, in their minds, it’s often “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”


 

Steelcastingcomputephotoguy  |   Dec 17, 2009  3:44 PM (GMT)

Having worked in the industry since 1973 I have noticed a major change in attitude since 1984, when the industry went from being an industry strictly being tools for automation and processing of redundant tasks to becoming a tool that had not only the driving factor of solving problems to also being influenced by the need of repeat customers repurchasing new versions of their current solution due to retail obsolescence.

For instance, there are people who have never used advanced features of any of the Microsoft office products that have had to get new versions because old versions were not backwards compatible. I confess, my use of Word Processing, spreadsheets could be done on spellbinder and visicalc. They just won’t work on the new systems. Earlier versions of same type of windows products will also not work with new systems.

There are some things functionally in my photography work that just seem to work better on Windows 98 than XP or Vista. Ask many who have lived through Microsoft printer drive problems and print quality issues with XP. We had to stay for the longest time on Windows 98 to get good print quality on printer that had been purchased new.

The 98 to XP was not that bad of a migration, but the anything to Vista and 7 is much different as the cosmetics have changed. Also, it seems that some vertical application software products still do not respect various aspects of the newer operating systems, especially security, which causes implementation problems.

With going from 98 to 7 would need to be a data transfer and reintegration with newer versions. A good time to analyze the situation….. maybe even go linux or mac……