The software giant has officially announced the “end of life” date for the two operating systems, Windows 98 and Millennium. Approximately 70 million users will find themselves “left behind” and will need to upgrade to newer operating systems if they wish to continue receiving technical support from Microsoft.
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| Source: academic.wsc |
As of July 11, these two operating systems will be officially removed from the “technical support” dictionary at Microsoft’s empire. While many have long been aware of Microsoft ceasing support for Windows 98 and ME, it was unclear when this decision would take effect.
According to the Washington Post, security companies will quickly follow Microsoft’s lead, stopping the release of security products and support for these outdated operating systems.
Statistics from the Washington Post indicate that there are still around 13% of Microsoft customers, approximately 70 million people, using Windows 98 and ME. Given the number of vulnerabilities, instability, and poor security of both systems, they truly deserve to be sent to the “software graveyard” for eternal rest.
The only consolation for Windows 98 and ME users at this time is that hackers have more attractive targets to attack, and these two operating systems have become so outdated that hackers have even… forgotten how to crack them.
According to Johannes Ullrich, the Chief Technology Officer of SANS, the majority of malware and malicious code created today are incompatible with these operating systems. Sometimes, being outdated isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
