Microsoft to drop older products

In a posting to Microsoft's developer Web site, the company lists several older products that are being phased out and that will no longer be available to customers as of Dec. 15.

The roster of products to be dropped includes SQL Server 7, Office XP Developer, Windows 98, and a number of Office 2000-related tools and patches. Microsoft said it will update Java-compliant versions of some products by the end of December, including Office XP Professional with FrontPage, Publisher 2002, Windows NT 4.0 and Small Business Server 2000.

Microsoft said that after the deadline the products would no longer be available through its MSDN developer Web site or "other channels at Microsoft." In the posting, dated Dec. 4, the company said the shift was "due to a settlement agreement reached in January 2001" related to a Java licensing agreement between Sun and Microsoft.

According to an agreement reached with Sun over the distribution of the Java virtual machine, Microsoft's software has to run Java programs. Microsoft has the right to modify Microsoft's Java software to fix critical bugs or security holes through January 2, 2004.

While Microsoft will no longer distribute the products listed, many will continue to be supported. The company plans to offer SQL Server 7 support until the end of 2007, for instance. Windows 98 support is available, for a fee, until next month. Third-party companies also provide Windows 98 support.

Many large businesses have already updated most of the affected products to more current versions, according to analysts.

In October, Microsoft said it would effectively exit the business of distributing Java virtual machines for Windows but would extend support for its own Java software for nine months until September 2004. At the time, however, the company did not specify which products it would continue to support.

Sun has sought to distribute its own Java virtual machine through court proceedings and in distribution agreements with PC manufacturers.

• Related stories

• Alerts

Add your opinion

It's also a very convenient wa ...Anonymous -- 09/12/03

It's also a very convenient way for Microsoft to hide the fact that they want to drop support for 98. Think of the uproar when they announced they were no longer going to support NT4!

• Reply to comment
• Reply to story
• Report offensive content

Their is a difference between ...Brad -- 09/12/03

Their is a difference between 98 & NT, and that is NT was and is widely used in industry, 98 isnt, I dont think you can make comparisons like that of Mr. Anonymous. Microsoft cannot support products forever, give them a break. (And NO I am not a Microsoft person, my background is in mainframes and Novell) its just that Win98 is overdue to be dumped as it has already been replaced by 2000 & XP.

• Reply to comment
• Reply to story
• Report offensive content

In essence, Microsoft can now ...Anonymous -- 09/12/03

In essence, Microsoft can now say.... "The court made us drop 98 support - sorry people." Hahahahaaaaa - yippee - let's palm the buck off to the DoJ! Let us not forget the reasons in the 90's why this 'initially' happened.

• Reply to comment
• Reply to story
• Report offensive content

If you don't support your prod ...Anonymous -- 09/12/03

If you don't support your product (aka 98') you should be stripped of your copyright!

It is so disgusting that you can claim copyright to something you abandon.

• Reply to comment
• Reply to story
• Report offensive content

"a dude" commented a ...Anonymous -- 09/12/03

"a dude" commented about the matter of being able to retain copyright on software that you don't support.

It is actually worse than just as he stated.

For about 6 years, a company that I had associations with had sold an embedded product that used MS-DOS 6.22. When they eventually ran out of licences (about two years ago), they rang Microsoft to try to organise the purchase of more.

Microsoft categorically REFUSED to sell them any more, telling them that it was no longer a supported product. They replied that they didn't want support - they had a working product and simply wanted to licence their continued use of MSDOS. Microsoft reiterated their statement that it was no longer a supported product and therefore could not be purchased.

The company them tried asking "if we can't purchase licences, can we just use it without licences?" Microsoft replied that, as the product was copyright, use of the product without a licence was a breach of the copyright and that they would be obliged to prosecute such an action.

The company then returned to saying "well, we don't want to breach copyright - sell us licences!" Microsoft simply returned to saying that it was no longer a supported product and therefore could not be purchased.

Microsoft (helpfully) suggested that the product should be modified to work with Windows XP embedded. When it was pointed out by the company that the existing hardware was a 66MHz 486 with 4MB of RAM Microsoft suggested that the hardware would need to be upgraded. The remainder of Microsoft's suggestions showed equal intelligence.

The company advised Microsoft that their policy left the company with no option but to use a competing product. It has since redeveloped the product to use a stripped down built from scratch Linux.

As the product manager stated at the time, "If we have to redevelop the product because of the lack of availability of licence for the underlying operating system, why would we not choose an operating system from a different company, and a free one at that?"

I will point out that there were a variety of reasons why FreeDOS was not suitable. There were also other contributing factors that encouraged the company to go for the greater utility available through the change to Linux.

Evey time I think back on that event, I wonder why any company in its right mind would refuse to take money off someone when doing so did nothing more than allow them to continue to use something that they already had.

But then again, who ever said that Microsoft are ever "in their right mind"?

• Reply to comment
• Reply to story
• Report offensive content

• Just In

• Most Popular

• Most Discussed

Reader Services

Popular Topics

Essentials