3 replies to this topic

[Lewis]

Windows 98 Lives On


The BlueClock Blog


I’ve solved the mystery of why Windows 98 still keeps on showing up in site stats. It’s because people really do still use it! Even more scary, lots of people still use it! I wanted to check train times for one of our journeys and I’d seen an easyInternetcafé in the centre of town a couple of days before. So I went back there, purchased a ticket from the high tech vending machine, entered the code on a free PC and checked the train times and a couple of other sites.

When I was done I went to clear out the browser cache and history to be on the safe side, but it wouldn’t let me. I checked the browser version, IE6. Oh well I thought, if I can’t get to it then it shows they have some security procedures in place. Sure enough, when I logged off, I was told that the computer would now restart and wipe all of my data. That was reassuring, but the biggest surprise was when the Windows 98 logo showed up. 10 years on and it’s still in use in a commercial organisation whose business is the internet! In fairness, I don’t know if all easyInternetcafé cafes use Windows 98 as their operating system and I’m not implying that it’s unsafe to use their PCs, but I checked on their website today and they had an announcement on their site that they would be rolling out their 4th generation system to all 74 of their cafes in 2006. At that time they had 5200 PCs and were serving 12 million customers every year. The company operates on a franchise basis and those figure will no doubt have grown in the past 2 years so that’s a lot of casual Windows 98 users.

On the way out of the cafe I did notice a sign on the wall listing some popular website such as FaceBook couldn’t be accessed via their computers. Time for an upgrade I think. I look forward to their Linux distro EasyPC.

The fact of the matter though is that I managed to easily get online and check the train times so I’m not complaining.
Deeper Into The Land Of Techno Reality

Three more visits and three more reality checks for the techno savvy.

First, my mother and father neither of whom have never had an email address and probably never will have one. So for their sake web designers, don’t forget to put put a phone number and address of your business web sites and print materials.

Second my sister who has wi-fi but didn’t know the password to access it so let’s hope nothing happens to her laptop!

And finally, my girlfriend’s folks who have a modern computer, update their anti-virus regularly and use the internet for planning holidays, booking trains and email but still use dial up and on a 8am to 6pm only plan.
This Is The Reality

None of the above is a criticism of the people or organisations. They are using as much technology as they want, to do what they need to get done and that’s fine. The lesson is for us web designers who work in a high tech world and assume that others do.

Filed under: Web Browsers, Web Standards, Accessibility and Best Practice , acid2, firefox, ie6, ie8, netscape, windows 98

[rokytnji]

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Time for an upgrade I think. I look forward to their Linux distro EasyPC.

I made a live USB of Easy Peasy with Unetbootin and gave it to my Wife who is a die hard Windows user. She was so impressed she had me install it as a dual boot on her Acer Aspire One. I was suprised to say the least.

[JohnT]

I have no problem with folks that don't care about tech stuff. One of my neighbors could care less about computers, and all of the other tech toys. I say more power to them. As a person who is pretty close to the senior stage of life I may have messed with all this stuff from DOS on up but I lost some of my interest in it awhile back. There is too much in life going on to just fool around with computers. They are fun but so are a few hundred other activities. I go outside and play now, still see a few movies a month and mess with this thing a few hours, and some days not at all.

[Lewis]

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I have no problem with folks that don't care about tech stuff. One of my neighbors could care less about computers, and all of the other tech toys. I say more power to them. As a person who is pretty close to the senior stage of life I may have messed with all this stuff from DOS on up but I lost some of my interest in it awhile back. There is too much in life going on to just fool around with computers. They are fun but so are a few hundred other activities. I go outside and play now, still see a few movies a month and mess with this thing a few hours, and some days not at all.

John, I am with you brother.