Resellers must rush to MS users' rescue
Windows 98 and 98SE, Office 97 and Outlook 98 to be declared obsolete on 16 January
Resellers will be able to rescue millions of Microsoft users this year, as they face the tough choice of either upgrading or relying on unsupported software.
Windows 98 and 98SE, Office 97 and Outlook 98 will be officially declared obsolete on 16 January.
Microsoft will put an end to support and security patching for the software. NT 4 is due for the same treatment at the end of December this year.
According to analyst IDC, there are 39 million users of Windows 98 worldwide.
"It's a huge opportunity for resellers that want to upgrade or support customers," said Lars Ahlgren, global services marketing manager at Microsoft.
"We want them to continue to support Windows 98, but we won't be releasing source code. There's a still a massive number of people - as many as one-third of the UK installed base - using the software."
Firms looking to upgrade may have to move to Windows XP, which also involves a large-scale hardware upgrade.
Greg Carlow, managing director of reseller Repton, said: "Customers have to hope their reseller can give support on anything that goes wrong or face a large upgrade cost."