Microsoft's Windows 98 is put out to pasture today, with customers no longer able to receive support or software updates.

It is perfectly usual in the software industry for products to become "End of Life" and for support to cease. What is noteworthy here is the estimated 70 million users (source: IDC) still working with the aging OS. Just two "remote exploits" were reported by Secunia last year - both of which have already been patched. This does, however, make Windows 98 an interesting target - whilst user numbers are fairly small, any vulnerability is likely to remain open indefinitely.

Altravision recommends that users take the opportunity to upgrade to Vista when it is released. Treat yourselves to some new hardware, and perhaps donate the old 98 machine to a charity - it could make someone a fantastic firewall!

See also:

• BBC news
• Secunia on Windows 98