> > > If true, those people need to wakeup and realize that:

> > > 1) None of those versions are supported any more by Microsoft, and of
> > >    the one that might be (WinMe, just barely) many software and hardware
> > >    vendors thought it so problematic that they won't support it even
> > >    when they'll still support Win98.

> > And some people need to wake up and realise that:

> > 1) Older machines don't have the speed or memory to run the latest
> >    versions of Windows.

> > 2) Expanding those older machines is difficult and expensive: few
> >    retailers bother to sell memory for last century's hardware and
> >    there's only so far a CPU can be pushed in an old motherboard.

> > 3) Once you get into upgrading the critical parts of the hardware you
> >    end up having to replace the entire box.

> > I've been there: an old 16MB 100MHz machine that ran Opera 6.06 well
> > under Windows 95 but could never handle XP.  I eventually managed to
> > track down a shop that still sold SIMMs and pushed the memory up to
> > 96MB (and also switched the OS to Linux) but to persuade the machine
> > to run XP I'd have had to replace the motherboard, the CPU, the power
> > supply, almost all my additional cards (most of which are for ISA
> > slots, which aren't a feature of many modern motherboards), add a new
> > disk, and replace my existing memory.  The only parts I could have
> > kept would have been the case and the power cord.  That's a lot of
> > money and work just to cut down the number of occasional crashes.

> > The fact is, Opera on Windows 9x is a great way to make an old machine
> > into a cheap and useful internet workstation.  I hope Opera continues
> > to support these systems for as long as possible.
> I don't dispute that, but it's also highly unrealistic to expect a
> software vendor to support an operating system that is 9 years old
> and which has long since ceased to be supported by its vendor.  Among
> various other things, you cannot get help from Microsoft to solve
> software compatibility issues any more.
> I think those who are running old systems should be grateful that
> Opera still makes available its older products (5.x, 6.x, etc.) so
> those people still have a nice option for older computers.  But