I hate Microsoft. With. A. Passion.
 

We have an application in house that requires we use legacy PCs. We're working on replacement hardware but due to the application and environment this is extremely costly and thus is moving slowly. Windows XP was not a supported upgrade (the vendor shipped the machines with '98, astonishingly) but it is working tolerably well. Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs is absolutely what we need. Yet, I CAN'T BUY IT!

Microsoft, in their infinite wisdom, have made WinFLP a Software Assurance-only benefit. Ok, fine, I think... I'll get some XP/Vista licenses and sign up for SA. DONE! Nonononono, not so fast. Not all SA agreements are created equally. WinFLP is only a benefit at the enterprise level.

Apparently MS never considered that smaller organizations might need such a product. Thus, I'm in a position whereby I can easily obtain the product off the 'net and use a pirated key with it. But I cannot purchase it legally... without signing up for a volume licensing program that requires roughly 3x the number of client/OS licenses that I need.

Typical. IMO the DOJ should tear them asunder and fling the pieces to the far corners with a judgment that makes even saying hello to another division punishable.

Can you not install the program on win2k or XP and use the runAs command to make the application think that it is running on a 98 machine?

as an example:
Create a new file with a bat extension.
Right click on that file
Select the Compatibility tab
select the "Run this program in compatibility mode for" check box
Select one of:
Windows 95
Windows 98
Windows NT
Windows 2000

If you need to modify the resolution or input settings modify as necessary.

Try vmware...
A perfect solution and free!

No no, the program runs on XP. The problem is that the hardware is very highly customized and at this point not replaceable (a touchscreen display with integrated PC on a custom PCB/motherboard integrated into a scale). It's currently running XP, just not that well (CPU is a P3-550, max memory 256MB).

I've tried using nLite and the results are simply too unstable even when I'm *very* conservative in what I remove. An identical OS build runs fine on other hardware so it's something about this specific combo. Yet, WinFLP runs perfectly.

VMware won't work either. It's not a software problem. It's hardware! We've considered Citrix, etc... won't work as the software requires a hardware interface to the scaling platform. It's a royal pain.

Can't you replace the board with something better? Or is everything custom, including the mobo?

Are you in the biotech field? I see so many very, very valuable devices ($25k-$100k-250k+) that simply have to be ran by a very old computer running win98. Although I feel your frustration, the issue is not Microsoft. The creators of whatever you have that runs on win98 are at fault for not keeping up with the times.

There are a variety of ways around it if you have some decent tech knowledge. Even so, I'm guessing you don't need a whole lot of these copies so I would probably suggest ebay. There are still many vendors that are selling windows 98.

It's *all* custom. :rolleyes: Believe me, if anything else would work, I'dve done it. It's completely non-standard.

The thing is, it came with '98 and we currently are using Windows XP Pro. The stupid machine only recognizes 256mb RAM which isn't ideal but it's still better than Win98 which was totally unreliable. The problem is that XP doesn't work well in such little memory with the scaling application running. Nothing's worse than having to slow down or stop the production lines to reboot the stupid scales (we're in the food business). That only happens once or twice a week but the ripple effect means it's a 25 minute process... multiply that by 275 people and it gets expensive.

The WinFLP thing is all about having a granular, slimmed down XP that only contains what we *need*. I built a test image using WinFLP and it works just amazingly. No stability issues and no memory issues either. Honestly, were Vista done this way I'd sign up in a heartbeat. It's proof MS *can* modularize an OS which is likely why they want to keep it under wraps.

I'd LIKE to be legal but if not... I may just tell MS that I have an XP Pro license for the thing and if they don't like me using Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs they can sue me or sell me. I've just never had a case where I was so actively thwarted in efforts to try to buy a product!

Uh, when I'm in a hurry I go to my local grey-box retailer and they sell me an OEM copy of anything I need.

When I'm not in a hurry I buy "Genuine Windows" from eBay. Around 10% are clearly forgeries so they go in the bin.

But it's still the cheapest way to go.

I hate M$ too, but can't you get what you need through a middle man?

Is this license from CDW what you need?
http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/def...px?EDC=1061308

I don't really know, but there must be companies who provide a sort of IT "service" which would include one of their volume licenses.

Eh, no company is required to sell you a product at a price that YOU deem reasonable.

Your hardware shipped with and was designed for Win 98.

If you have an issue with the hardware, talk to the vendor. Yell at the vendor if you need an upgrade to XP (oe a variant such as XPe).

WFLPCs is offered at a given price that's profitable. There's nothing saying you can't buy it for the offered price.

Think of it like a music CD. I may only like 2 songs on a given album, but if I want those songs on CD I have to buy the full album. It's the same with WFLPC.

Just download the two songs.

I feel your pain Kanebear. We hate vista, it crashes everything.

:confused:

I'm missing why you can't just leave these devices on Windows 98. It may not be ideal, but it sounds like their LOB devices and they shouldn't be messed with. I've worked in lots of situations whereby the machinery that ran the business worked on some old OS (DOS, Windows 95, 98, etc) and that was that. If you break the widget machine the copany stops making money adn the IT department has no job, so why not just figure out how to support the widget machine as-is until the company needs a new widget machine?

Windows 98? I have a device that runs on Windows 3.1 It serves it's purpose so I don't mess with it.

Agree 100% with what frogger said. The problem comes from the equipment vendor/integrator, not from Microsoft.

To off-line test things, you might be able to get WinFLP via an MSDN subscription, they supply lots and lots of legacy OSes. But you do not get a live license this way, license(s) only usable for development (and testing and documentation and certification, etc.).

The VMware suggestion is off base. It's not free, and you need to install an OS into it just like with any physical hard drive/system.