For another, a lot of software still runs on Win 98 -- among the 20 top-selling Windows programs in December, as compiled by the research firm NPD Group, 15 are listed as Win 98-compatible. Media software is a big exception: If you want to make MP3 copies of your CDs, Win 98 offers few options.
Windows 98 Second Edition and Millennium Edition: Despite the chorus of yawns it was greeted with at its summer 1999 introduction, Win 98 SE turns out to be a fairly significant update seven years later -- it's the oldest Windows release I would consider halfway viable. Win ME, which shipped only a year later, offers almost the same compatibility.
| | | | ___Personal Tech E-letter___ Washington Post personal technology columnist Rob Pegoraro answers reader e-mail and expands on themes he touches on in his weekly newspaper column. The e-mail version of this weekly feature includes links to the latest gadget and software reviews.
• Click Here for Free Sign-up
• Read E-letter Archive
| | | | | | |
|
These releases' USB support is good enough to accept almost all the peripherals you might plug into a new Win XP machine.
Win 98 SE and ME also remain the minimum system for many popular applications, such as Microsoft's Money and RealNetworks' RealPlayer. They can't, however, run some of the best-known media software, including Apple's iTunes, Napster, Roxio Easy CD and DVD Creator 7 and Adobe Photoshop Elements 3. You might not think that word processing demands the latest system software, but Microsoft Office 2003 won't run on these systems, either.
Windows 2000: The immediate ancestor of Windows XP, used by few home users, is barely a year older than Win XP. Yet Microsoft is backing away from it anyway. The latest versions of its flagship Web and media programs -- the pop-up-blocking IE 6 and the cleaner, more capable Windows Media Player 10 -- both require XP.
With little or no built-in support for such wireless standards as WiFi and Bluetooth, Win 2000 is also far behind XP in the networking department.
On the Mac side, there have been far more system updates in recent years -- the downside of that being a quick sunset for older releases. This has continued past the onset of Mac OS X -- the 3 1/2-year-old Mac OS X 10.1 is now as far behind the times as Win 98 SE.
Mac OS 8 and 8.5: These 1997 and 1998 releases are as dead as Windows 95, thanks to their own lack of USB support -- as well as an even more complete abandonment by software developers. Not a single modern, compatible browser is available for these systems. Multimedia software is also hard to find.
Mac OS 8.6-9.2: These releases are slightly better in terms of software support -- there still aren't any good browsers, but you can run an old version of iTunes (which doesn't connect to the iTunes Music Store or recent iPod models). And you can plug in USB devices.
Mac OS X 10.0 and 10.1: The first two releases of Mac OS X have been so badly outclassed by succeeding releases that there is no good reason to run them.
Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar: This operating system, a mere 2 1/2 years old, is already being prepped for retirement. This is not the fault of third-party software developers or hardware manufacturers; most of whose wares function just fine in Jaguar. Instead, look to Apple, which is giving Jaguar the Windows 2000 treatment -- the current versions of its Safari Web browser and iPhoto and iLife packages require OS X 10.3 Panther.
If your system shows up on this list, that's not a death sentence. First, you can simply install the latest system software. A machine that runs Win 2000 or any Mac OS X version should handle Windows XP or Panther -- as long as you up its memory to 512 megabytes.
Second, you can look past Microsoft or Apple for your upgrades. Using Win 98, ME or 2000? Ditch Microsoft's Internet Explorer, essentially abandoned on pre-XP versions, for the free Firefox browser. The same recommendation applies in Jaguar; the version of Safari in that release doesn't display some sites properly. Microsoft Office 2003 may not tolerate Win 98 SE, but Corel's WordPerfect Office 12 and the free OpenOffice will.
But if you're spending any time with digital photos, music or video and you're not running at least Win 2000 or Jaguar, forget it. Take one common question I see, getting an iPod to work in Win 98. You can do it with a fair amount of tinkering -- but even then, you'll be stuck with a machine whose hard drive is probably smaller than the iPod's and which will take hours to copy over that music unless you upgrade its USB connections.
In that case, you either have to accept the limits of your old machine or ante up for a new one. The alternative is endless fussing with your computer, the kind of drudgery that will make you feel old.
Living with technology, or trying to? E-mail Rob Pegoraro at rob@twp.com.
