[thop]

Good news, hopefully that'll get the peeps that still keep 9x installed for gaming purposes to finally move on!

http://www.planetdoom.com/

[digitalwanderer]

I knew the day would come, I'm ready. 8)

[jvd]

wow that might hinder the importance of doom3

[Johnny Rotten]

Originally Posted by jvd

wow that might hinder the importance of doom3

You've got people scrambling to buy $500 video cards all over the place, windows 9x certainly isnt going to be an issue.

[jvd]

Originally Posted by Johnny Rotten

You've got people scrambling to buy $500 video cards all over the place, windows 9x certainly isnt going to be an issue.

Well after 500$ on a video card and 54.99 for a game who is gong to have another 100+ for windows xp ?

[kyleb]

i'm kinda dissapointed as i still run ME on my second rig and was hopeing to have some 1v1 lan action with it, but i don't forsee myself chucking out cash for a second copy of xp.

[thegrommit]

Thief Dark Shadows was also a 2K/XP only game - officially. A hack is available to enable it to run under 9X/ME.

[mito]

No wonder why pir8 versions flourish.

[Richard]

Personally I'm glad id is going for 2000/XP. Like everything else, doesn't mean it won't work with older OSes but it's time to move on. And this is coming from someone who is "still" using Windows 2000.

[Blade]

The reasons to continue using Win98 are simply going away with each passing day.

The biggest deal is that I'm pretty sure newer games run better under XP due to the memory capacity/management.

[mono]

If you don't want to upgrade from Win98, and run an Nvidia card, get Linux and dual boot. SuSE 9.1 Personal ISO is here:
ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/9.1-personal-iso/

You'll need about 3-3.5GB of free space for SuSE and Doom3. I wouldn't be surprised if the Linux Client is available on release day, but if not, it will be just a day or two after the game hits the shelves.

You'll probably go nuts over how awesome SuSE is if you're running Win98 anyway.

[Gabrobot]

Knowing Carmack, Doom 3 will probably run fine in Windows 98/ME. I think this is just what Activision/id Software tech support will support for. (Windows 98/ME are too old to easily support now)

[AlStrong]

technically... what would prevent it from running on older OSes?

Is it just a matter of technical support from Activision since even MS doesn't support win9x anymore?

[Gabrobot]

Originally Posted by Alstrong

technically... what would prevent it from running on older OSes?

Is it just a matter of technical support from Activision since even MS doesn't support win9x anymore?

There are definately ways to code a program so it'll only work on 2000 and XP, but there really is no good reason to do so (well, except for Xbox emulators but that's different). John Carmack is very good about supporting a very wide range of things as well (as you can see with Doom 3 running well on a Geforce 2 level card) and Doom 3 started back when Windows 9x was the standard, so Doom 3 will probably run fine. It most likely is just a thing with technical support.

[Dexter]

Quite a few applications lose Win9X support when they feature window transparency, although I think thats to do with win32api and such, probably not relevant..

[cthellis42]

Originally Posted by Alstrong

Is it just a matter of technical support from Activision since even MS doesn't support win9x anymore?

They extended their support--such that is has been for the past few years--until at least June 30, 2006. I would imagine mainly critical updates and key components... Online and phone technical support is still available, too. (As much as they don't WANT to... ) It will most definitely be tossed before Longhorn, though. A good marketing move if nothing else. Hehe...

[AlStrong]

ah... I see... thanks


(I must have missed the news of the extended support)

[Sandwich]

Originally Posted by Blade

The reasons to continue using Win98 are simply going away with each passing day.

The biggest deal is that I'm pretty sure newer games run better under XP due to the memory capacity/management.

Not the biggest reason though: money. There are afteral people who don't like to warez their OS, even if it's from an evil meglomanic company like M$.

WinXP offers nothing to win98 except now gamers are made to to use it, as M$ discourages further support. (well that and the completely unnecessary >512MB bug).

Else WinXP offers nothing new any gamer would need. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's got a comp which is only used by myself. I don't even need to have users or passwords.
So basicly I know I'm going to feel ripped off when i finally need to buy XP just to run new apps.

[Druga Runda]

Well if it runs on Linux, why would it be a problem for people to upgrade (apart from a lack of time); it would actually be a perfect opportunity.

[trinibwoy]

I am not so sure about Windows XP games specific advantages but it's a more manageable and stable OS overall. Hardware compatibility is probably better too.

[Dio]

Else WinXP offers nothing new any gamer would need

I'd turn that round: there is nothing in the world which would make me use 9x ever, ever again. If I discount the WinME system I had to fix for a cousin - eventually, by binning it - the last time I touched 9x was at least three years ago and the world is a better place for it.

9x systems operated by all but the most expert and careful users always fill up with crap, become unstable and unmanageable, and once they have entered this state the only way out is a reinstall. In contrast, I only just recently retired a Windows 2000 installation that had been in use 10 hours a day for three years on two different motherboards. When I used 9x I had to reinstall at least every year.

[oddfellow]

Originally Posted by Dio

I'd turn that round: there is nothing in the world which would make me use 9x ever, ever again. If I discount the WinME system I had to fix for a cousin - eventually, by binning it - the last time I touched 9x was at least three years ago and the world is a better place for it.

9x systems operated by all but the most expert and careful users always fill up with crap, become unstable and unmanageable, and once they have entered this state the only way out is a reinstall. In contrast, I only just recently retired a Windows 2000 installation that had been in use 10 hours a day for three years on two different motherboards. When I used 9x I had to reinstall at least every year.

My thoughts exactly. 8)

I ditched windows 98 for 2000 around 3 years ago and NOTHING would make me go back.

I've had this same installation of 2000 for around 18 months now (since I built this pc), and I have no need to constantly tweak, clean or change anything at all. Back when I was on 98 I would reinstal once every couple of months just to keep the system clean and working.

And don't even get me started on windows Me (Windows Multiple Error). It was almost like microsoft thought it would be fun to release an OS that included every possible bug they'd ever created and then add some more.
I think I used it for around 2 weeks, then I ditched it.

[Sandwich]

Who said anything about going back?

It's just that winXP has nothing real to offer, except I'll be forced to upgrade anyway, because of driver support and apps.

My installation is relatively clean, stable, fast and I haven't needed to do a reinstall for 18 months. I'm pretty quick with registry editors too. No problem there.

The machine's pretty secure too. Nobody but me behind it and no nasty winXp features like Remote Registry to compromise my security.
Just an OS harking back to the time when M$ fortunately didn't see the potential of internet yet.
That's a distinct advantage. Without file/printer sharing and without IE, win98 doesn't respond to any port, unlike winXP. Lack of functionality is a good thing here.
WinXP is nothing I couldn't make secure, but I don't need it's added leaks and backdoors either.

[Apoc]

Originally Posted by oddfellow

And don't even get me started on windows Me (Windows Multiple Error). It was almost like microsoft thought it would be fun to release an OS that included every possible bug they'd ever created and then add some more.
I think I used it for around 2 weeks, then I ditched it.

Don't know why people hate winMe that much. I used it for 1,5 years or so and it was VERY stable, no BSOD, no nothing. And I used it in 10 machines (at work). No problems at all.

BTW, win98se was a pain in the ass.

[Tokelil]

It's just that winXP has nothing real to offer, except I'll be forced to upgrade anyway, because of driver support and apps.

The added stability of the kernel is more than reason enough for most people.

Just installed Win98SE on my A64 a month or so ago (to test some software I wrote that didn't work on Win9x) and oh my it ran bad compared to XP. (Well I kind of expected it to be unstable, but not suck performance wise)
So on new hardware I will not touch Win9x if I dont have to. (And the sooner Win9x is gone the sooner I can delete my Win9x partition... Looking forward to that!)