[Freespace Freak]

Wait, does your joystick not work because of Vista, or because it's broken?

[neoterran]

no, vista disables support for the gameport interface. of the stuff that went with the entire 16 bit subsystem is gone, Vista no longer supports any 16 bit code in the OS, which was inherited from the win95 stuff ported over to NT.

[Fury]

The best solution to this problem:

Don't use Vista.

Of course, I'm still using 98SE, and I really, really don't plan on ever changing.

You DO realize that Microsoft no longer supports W98 in any form? You won't get any updates, including critical security fixes. On top of that W9x is so outdated that the latest softwares and games may not even support such antiquated OS anymore. Most hardware manufacturers stopped supporting W9x last year.

Since you have sworn not to upgrade to a newer Windows it is quite apparent that you are not planning to play latest games, I seriously suggest you to switch to linux.

The people who are still using older Windows than W2k should;
1) Switch to linux or apple macs.
2) Upgrade to WinXP or WinVista.
3) Be shot, the computer confiscated, linux installed to it and the computer sent to africa for those who can appreciate it more.

Seriously, that is so unacceptable that ISP's should have a built-in automatic detection in their routers and firewalls that block out computers running obsolete OS. The web would be much better place then.

[karajorma]

Bah. ISPs should just have PEBCAK filters and be done with it

[Eishtmo]

I'm not going to not use it because one game of many i play doesn't work on it.

It's Freespace.

You DO realize that Microsoft no longer supports W98 in any form? You won't get any updates, including critical security fixes. On top of that W9x is so outdated that the latest softwares and games may not even support such antiquated OS anymore. Most hardware manufacturers stopped supporting W9x last year.

You do realize I really don't give a ****.  My comp does everything I want it to do.  I don't play that many new games at all, in fact I play more old games than anything else.  So why upgrade when I really don't need or want to?

Regardless, my next computer will probably be a Mac.

[Kosh]

Win2k is your friend man...........


I was never a big fan of XP

[Fury]

XP is nothing more than an upgraded 2k but there are some pretty good improvements in XP over 2k.
- Restore points
- ClearType fonts
- UPnP
- Improved compatibility mode for 16-bit apps
- Support for parallel DLL's, the first Windows to effectively end the DLL Hell.
- Better support for PnP devices such as scanners and cameras.
- Upgraded kernel with many small improvements such as improved RAM handling, improved multithreading, etc.

Hmh, these at least cover the most obvious ones. So yeah, XP is better than 2k and if you don't like the XP theme, you can disable it. But there's no reason to upgrade if you're happy with W2k. Windows 9x, ME, NT3 and NT4 are different stories though because these are obsolete and no longer supported.

[Colonol Dekker]

In all honesty my faveourite incarnation is 98, For hardware control (older hardware obviously) IRQ control and basic compatibility management.  I loved it. I've nad no joy playig Elite 2 on anything sice...