Robertmakes a good point about folks running Windows 98 but the real problem, is that Microsoft has not done a really good job evangelizing folks to get onto XP. (and eWeek is correct, nearly half the market is still on Win 98, YIKES) Getting XP as the majority of the installed base should be a priority for Redmond at this point with incentives from Microsoft for users to not only upgrade their OS but their systems as well (ever tried to upgrade from 98 to XP… not something for the average consumer to do). Get folks from HP, Dell and Gateway on board and come up with some real cost effective solutions to jumpstart a migration. The more folks that are on XP the better Microsoft’s overall security position will be.  Scoble’s correct that staying on 98 is a bad idea but with Microsoft extending support for it until 2006 there is even less incentive than ever for users to migrate. Is this all part of some long range plan to make a big push for Longhorn in 2006? If so, it’s not a smart move on the part of Redmond.

eWeek reports people are still using Windows 98. What's really scary is this quote: ""There have been tons of updates for IE [Internet Explorer], Outlook and Windows Media Player, which are common components on Win 98, but very few that affect the operating system," the administrator said. "In fact, the most common recent vulnerabilities have not affected Win 98, and the recent evidence would indicate that Win 98 systems are vastly more secure than XP machines. I use 98SE. I still build machines for customers based on 98SE." That is absolutely false and anyone who thinks this is really dangerous. Yikes.
[The Scobleizer -- Geek Aggregator]