Quantative Measure of People Still Using 98?

External Since: Aug 22, 2008 Posts: 1

This presents a legitimate question for software developers
updating their programs.

To my recollection, the last 98 computer was sold in 2001. That
would make the last sold computer seven years old. You would
think that the number of such systems still around would be near
zero.

Yet, anecdotally, lots of 98 users seem to be around. They speak
up on newsgroups and forums. They still seem to like their
systems and boast of not changing their operating systems. Still
having a ten year old operating system does reflect some
sophistication of computer skills.

I have long wondered if there is any reliable quantitative
measure of continuing 98 users. Various measures surface from
time to time most all of which seem to raise doubts of the
accuracy of the numbers and the interests of who is publishing
them. The question of what portion of the universe the numbers
reflect always seems problematic.

I recently came across a measure, that while hardly perfect,
appears to be objective, not subject to anyone's special
influence, and relevant to the issue.

I found on the Guliverkli2 site counts of downloads of win98
files and winxp versions at
https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=205650&pac
kage_id=246121&release_id=541232 and
https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=205650&pac
kage_id=245753&release_id=540363

While the absolute numbers might be problematic, the proportion
of win 98 to win xp users would seem to be significant as an
approximate measure of a continuing 98 user base for purposes of
software developers of similar programs.

The first program was Media Player Classic 6.4.9.1. This is an
excellent program that puts its developers in the software hall
of fame. It plays lots of files well. The download counts are

98 15,417 (12%)
xp 100,239 (88%)

There is nothing special about this program for 98. Other
similar programs, zoom player and vlc player, too run on 98.

The other page was for directvobsub. The numbers were

98 2,053 (24%)
xp 6,568 (76%)

The fact that 12% of the persons downloading the win 98 version
of the program, a OS version not sold commercially in seven
years, would indicate a still significant base of sophisticated
users keeping their software current consistent with the number
of 98 users raising their voice on news groups and forums.

This would contradict the claim heard from the Pacific Northwest
that no one uses 98 any more.

External Since: Aug 13, 2004 Posts: 954

There are still quite a few 98 users out there but many may not be hooked up
to the Internet or hook up only to get drivers. I say this with pride while
posting in Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition. I also use XP Professional
Service Pack 3 with this dual-boot computer, briefly dabbled with Ubuntu
Linux and plan to work with it more in the future and have a generic run of
the mill Toshiba Windows Vista Laptop that is now being repaired by Toshiba
because of hardware issues including faulty biometrics that kept messing up.
The Real or should I say Reel <movies -- grin> Deal is this -- do you want
to use Windows 9x consumer source code, Windows NT business source code,
Unix/Linux, etc. and what is the flavor of os's you prefer and why. In
addition, how will you protect and safeguard 9x through use of 3rd party
software like Mozilla Firefox and SpywareBlaster. BTW, Chris Quirke, mvp
from Africa understands the internal safety of 9x and the external security
of NT. You can just "Google" his name for Chris's Blog and other interesting
stuff.

"Smith" wrote:

> This presents a legitimate question for software developers
> updating their programs.
>
> To my recollection, the last 98 computer was sold in 2001. That
> would make the last sold computer seven years old. You would
> think that the number of such systems still around would be near
> zero.
>
> Yet, anecdotally, lots of 98 users seem to be around. They speak
> up on newsgroups and forums. They still seem to like their
> systems and boast of not changing their operating systems. Still
> having a ten year old operating system does reflect some
> sophistication of computer skills.
>
> I have long wondered if there is any reliable quantitative
> measure of continuing 98 users. Various measures surface from
> time to time most all of which seem to raise doubts of the
> accuracy of the numbers and the interests of who is publishing
> them. The question of what portion of the universe the numbers
> reflect always seems problematic.
>
> I recently came across a measure, that while hardly perfect,
> appears to be objective, not subject to anyone's special
> influence, and relevant to the issue.
>
> I found on the Guliverkli2 site counts of downloads of win98
> files and winxp versions at
> https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=205650&pac
> kage_id=246121&release_id=541232 and
> https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=205650&pac
> kage_id=245753&release_id=540363
>
> While the absolute numbers might be problematic, the proportion
> of win 98 to win xp users would seem to be significant as an
> approximate measure of a continuing 98 user base for purposes of
> software developers of similar programs.
>
> The first program was Media Player Classic 6.4.9.1. This is an
> excellent program that puts its developers in the software hall
> of fame. It plays lots of files well. The download counts are
>
> 98 15,417 (12%)
> xp 100,239 (88%)
>
> There is nothing special about this program for 98. Other
> similar programs, zoom player and vlc player, too run on 98.
>
>
>
> The other page was for directvobsub. The numbers were
>
> 98 2,053 (24%)
> xp 6,568 (76%)
>
>
> The fact that 12% of the persons downloading the win 98 version
> of the program, a OS version not sold commercially in seven
> years, would indicate a still significant base of sophisticated
> users keeping their software current consistent with the number
> of 98 users raising their voice on news groups and forums.
>
> This would contradict the claim heard from the Pacific Northwest
> that no one uses 98 any more.
>