I feel badly for the users of Windows 98 SE, but not as badly as I feel for the users of Windows ME. You can complain about any Microsoft products any time, but no complaints will ever be as justified as they were for Win ME. It is BY FAR the worst product MS ever put out. EVER.

Yes, and I feel very pissed, because I do use Windows Millennium, and I do not have the money to buy me one of the newer systems nor do I have the money to buy me a Mac, as much as I would love to. Though I've never had a virus so far, because I watch out well. And it seems to be a trend lately to attack more Win2000 and WinXP, so maybe people will have a mercy on the old systems in the future.

I can't upgrade OS until I get rid of my computer -- with Windows 98 built in.

ZoneAlarm's running almost every minute -- save for those times when I'm loading audiobooks onto a thing called Otis.

I guess they want to focus on their OS of the future, and maybe get into the blogging and search engine fields.

Michelle - maybe it is time more folks switch to Linux? I see this announcement as a very risky move for M$ and very similar to their strategy with IE no longer being separately supported which could be a huge mistake -- or a genius move.

Try setting yourself up a dual boot and maybe you'll find that what you liked about Windows can be replaced with another (open source) OS.

TDavid, that's exactly what I'm considering, too. Linux might be the solution to me in the end.

Though a friend just told me the deadline for the support of Win 98 had already been postponed in 2002, and it could be they'll postpone it again. I hope they will, because I'm not familiar with Linux yet. I know Mac though. I'll have to check it out.

I do a lot of music recording and I really wanted to switch to mac this year, but they are just too expensive. Then I got fed up with microsoft and wanted to switch my PC to linux, but there is no support for Pro Tools, which is my music recording package.

People who hate MS wonder why they win all the time, but even those who are motivated to switch run into the fact that the switching costs are just too great in a lot of cases. When I can afford my next computer, it will probably be a mac for recording music.

i don't wonder why they win....they use their monopolistic advantage to force their mediocre software as the defacto standard.

If that's for tactical reasons it might be quite stupid at this point (do I get sued by Bill now?) when Windows and IE are infected by a virus every other day and Microsoft get bad press weekly. I think people realize more and more that Windows is crappy, but I'm also of the no-money crowd. Can't afford a Mac and am not brave enough for Linux (yet).

this is where the mainstream media propaganda (hmmm, maybe not 'progaganda'...it might just be plain lack of facts) falls right on its face.

some of the more 'modern' linux systems are quite easy to use. heck you can get a cheap computer running Suse linux at walmart.com for less than $500.

now, if you want to do games & things like that it's still a problem...but for most 'regular' tasks (email, web, etc) it's pretty danged easy (and you won't have to reboot several times a week...promise!)