News

Watch kiosks running Win 98 as support ends

December 11, 2003

REDMOND, Wash. -- Companies still running Windows 98 risk facing unpatched Internet threats as Microsoft puts the operating system out to pasture early next year, a research firm said.

The research paper and an accompanying survey, both released by AssetMetrix Research Labs, an arm of IT asset management vendor AssetMetrix, points out that although there are large numbers of machines in enterprises still running Windows 98, Microsoft is set to retire the operating system and will stop posting security fixes for the OS in mid-January 2004.

According to an article on Yahoo Daily News, the problem with Windows 98 stems from Microsoft's product lifecycle. As of January 16, 2004, Microsoft will shift Windows 98 into what it dubs the "non-supported phase," which means that although online help for the operating system will continue, the company is not obligated to release security "hotfixes" for uncovered vulnerabilities.

According to the article, Microsoft earlier this week announced that it was discontinuing distribution for all editions of Windows 98 except for Windows 98 Second Edition, a move required by a settlement reached with Sun Microsystems in a dispute over Java.

Production machines and kiosks that don't connect to the Internet, could still safely run the older OS, the article said.