In Defense of Old Computers and Old Operating Systems!!!

I have a burr under my saddle and I’d like to extricate it.

This post has nothing to do with politics. At least, I don’t think it does.

In my home office I have three computers. A Compaq, a Gateway, and a hi-bred which I had built to handle the graphics my wife loves to work with.

My favorite computer is the Gateway. My least favorite computer is the Compaq. I have used Windows 95, Windows 98SE, ME and I have XP Pro on my Hi-bred machine. Of all these operating systems… I like, and I use… the 98SE more than all the others combined!

I have never liked XP-Pro since the day we took it out of the box. I don’t like the feel, the look, the way it handles, and it’s intrusive nature.

I liked ME. It was a little unstable, but I must tell you, I liked it far better than XP.

I use a “dial-up” connection. I am a Blogger. I have handled as many as three blogs, simultaneously, with this dial-up connection and… using 98SE!

Why do I tell you this?

Because, it seems every time I turn around, on the Internet, someone is saying I simply cannot use 98SE anymore. I absolutely must upgrade to XP or even Vista! My question is WHY???

I have heard internet personalities claim they have heard people boast of still using 98SE! WELLLLL????? I don’t particularly boast about it… But, I sure as hell am not ashamed of it! Why is it so difficult for techies to understand that I LIKE the 98SE operating system???

Sitting not more than 5 feet from me, now, lit up, and ready to go is my XP-Pro machine. Yet, I’m writing this post on the old 98SE machine. All I have to do is kick this old roll around, high-backed office chair to my left, and I’ll be staring into the bright screen of the XP machine. But, I won’t.

My 98SE OS works just fine, thank you. I am happy with it. It does everything I ask it to do. Heck, I have identical programs on the 98SE as I do the XP and the 98SE outperforms the XP machine every time. I have less RAM on the 98SE machine that I do on the XP, yet the 98SE out performs it.

A year, or so ago, the hard drive on the 98SE machine gave up the ghost. I replaced it with one triple the size of the original.

Look, I understand that the manufacturer of operating systems must sell operating systems to survive. I also know that to do that, they must convince the buying public that the operating system they are using, currently, is no longer going to be supported and the new operating system is so much better and so much more secure. Funny thing is... practically anyone can secure their own computer with some common sense and a few pieces of software… most of which can be obtained for free.

I am very comfortable with the operating system I am currently using. Why in the world would I want to rush out and buy the newest operating system and possibly not like it once I got it installed, up, and running. The learning curve would be there again, and all the rest of it. Plus, the makers of viruses, and Trojans, and the hackers are going to have a field day with any new operating system.

If I were going to upgrade to another operating system right now, I’d probably look at the open source models first.

On top of everything else, the computer market is near the saturation point. Unless, and until, computer makers, and Operating Systems maker’s can convince you to do away with your old machine, and your old operating system, they are gonna be stuck with a warehouse full of inventory… growing old! You must have noticed the price on computers is dropping rapidly.

I hope I have been able to give voice to the frustrated millions, on the web, who, like myself, continue to love their old Operating Systems and their old computers and plan to, against all the odds, continue to use them as long as they last!

Deo Vindice!!! (God is with us!)

Longstreet