End of support for Windows 98/ME in OpenOffice.org 3

[Sfor]

I found nothing particular with the Dependancy Walker. I do not have experience in using it, anyway.

It's possible the problem is related to some enviroment checking (like enviroment variables or something like that).

[BenoitRen]

This KernelEx stuff won't help non-geeks and people who still use Windows 95. I'm a bit tired of hearing about it. It's not the holy grail. At least not for me.

and the emulation code we used before has either been removed or is no longer

reachable (due to the distribution of code to three layers)

What the hell? They did this on purpose? Why those little...! This code should be salvaged.

[SlugFiller]

The funny part is that, as I understand it, OOo is supposed to be multi-platform. If they have the necessary code to run it on both Windows and X-Windows, with the proper separation, there should be no problem adding an equivalent separate code to run it on 9x instead of NT.

A proper program would have all of its platform-dependent code in one place, so that it can easily be modified and made compatible with any OS at any version. With such a module available, compatibility layers are much easier to provide.

[rainyd]

This KernelEx stuff won't help non-geeks and people who still use Windows 95. I'm a bit tired of hearing about it. It's not the holy grail. At least not for me.

BenoitRen, sorry but you must simply accept fact that even on this forum Win95 users are in minority.

[SlugFiller]

Is KEx not 95 compatible?

If not, how hard could it be to make it so?

As for non-geeks, I doubt any of them are still using 9x. Non-geeks just go with the herd, they're probably on Vista by now.

[BenoitRen]

BenoitRen, sorry but you must simply accept fact that even on this forum Win95 users are in minority.

On a forum with subject "Windows 95/98/98SE/ME", this excuse doesn't go. Think of the Win95 and WinME users too.

[Tarun]

This KernelEx stuff won't help non-geeks and people who still use Windows 95. I'm a bit tired of hearing about it. It's not the holy grail. At least not for me.

BenoitRen, sorry but you must simply accept fact that even on this forum Win95 users are in minority.

You're very correct.

For Windows 9x/Me, usage doesn't even total 1%. In fact, there is a steady decline. The ranges from 0.48% - 0.58%, and W3 Counter reports 0.96%, though the four others (Net Applications, XiTi Monitor, OneStat and Median) seem to have the more normalized range.

Source: Usage share of desktop operating systems - Wikipedia

[CoffeeFiend]

Indeed. By some metrics, Win98 lost 55% of it's already few users in the last 10 months. And there's no signs of it slowing down at all. Just look.

And there's even less Windows ME users (they're also declining at about the same rate, around 55% in 10 months), and there's basically no Win 95 users left. When all of win9x combined accounts for 3/4 of 1%, and it's on a fast & steady decline, you can't exactly be surprised nobody really cares about or develops for your platform anymore. Another 10 months at that pace, and all of Win95/98/ME users combined are going to account for about 1/3 of 1% (significantly less than Linux, NT, or both flavors of Mac OS)

You can hope all you want for apps to keep supporting Win9x (OOo included), but don't really be surprised when it fails to happen, and that the market share of win9x keeps shrinking at this amazing speed...

Edited June 16, 2008 by crahak

[SlugFiller]

According to those same stats, Linux is not doing significantly better. If that's not sufficient reason for open-source developers to support 9x, I don't know what is.

Still, all of these stats are from personal counters in sites that are somewhat less than "public generic internet portals". Stats from Google would have better overview, but most of these sites attract developers to begin with.

[Sfor]

I've tested the Go OO 2.4.1 version of the OpenOffice. It seems to be working as good as the OpenOffice.org 2.4.0.

The most important difference seems to be the DOCX support and a bit different installation system. As, there are no Java plugin and Google Toolbar in it. It looks a bit different, because the icons are different (bigger).

[CoffeeFiend]

If that's not sufficient reason for open-source developers to support 9x, I don't know what is.

Linux is a good platform quickly gaining popularity (quicker than macs -- 48% increase in 10 months, versus 30% increase for macs in the same time frame), with a future ahead, and one of the main alternatives to Windows. Win9x is a platform almost no one uses already, and still on a quick and steady decline (55% decrease in the same time frame). Linux on the desktop already has as many users as all of Win9x combined, and is gaining more real fast, while Win9x losing theirs just as quickly. In 10 months at this rate, Linux will have at least 3x the market share of all Win9x combined, and 10 months after that, you're talking about 10x bigger. I don't see what makes that a reason to support Win9x in any way -- much the inverse (not worth wasting time over).

Still, all of these stats are from personal counters in sites that are somewhat less than "public generic internet portals". Stats from Google would have better overview, but most of these sites attract developers to begin with.

No. Sure, if you look at w3schools' counters, those only reflect their own site's usage. But places like net applications collect that data from thousands of places (from about 160M hits per month). You could even add their counter to your site if you wanted to.

Edit: Actually, another way to look at it, is that Mac OS X on new Intel boxes, gained FIVE TIMES as many users in the last 10 months, as there are Win98 users left. And there's nearly 6x as many Mac OS Classic (a platform Apple themselves abandoned) users as Win98 users. Right now, there's roughly SIXTEEN TIMES more Mac users as Win98 users. Some stats now bundle up Win98 users in the "other" category, along with WebTV and such. And Apple is still on the rise, so is Linux, both showing no sign of that growth slowing down anytime soon. On a side note, Win2k users are also becoming a small minority very quickly (lost 40% of its users in the last 10 months). And in a few more days, this month's stats should be in, Vista/Macs/Linux will be up again, XP/2k/9x down yet again.

Edited June 27, 2008 by crahak

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

BenoitRen, sorry but you must simply accept fact that even on this forum Win95 users are in minority.

On a forum with subject "Windows 95/98/98SE/ME", this excuse doesn't go. Think of the Win95 and WinME users too.

Yup, i use Me as 98SE doesn't like my laptop. But isn't this why KernelEx is being developed? I don't think they'd deliberately break compatibility with 9x/Me, just that they won't test on this platform anymore.

[BenoitRen]

GNU/Linux is growing now. But it doesn't mean that it will keep growing at the same rate.

I'll be holding out for Haiku, a real desktop OS.

[Tihiy]

[Multibooter]

Under Win98 when you double-click on the installer of v3.0: This program has performed an illegal operation ...