Windows

nemo25uk

Hi all,

I am wanting to download windows 98 or higher for FREE (I have no idea if you can hence why I am asking)! Any advice would be fantastic! Not all that clued up when it comes to techie stuff

Thanks in advance
Georgina x
:A

[Deleted User]

You can only download them as part of a Technet of MSDN subscription. They're not available for free.

underlay_guru

Free? No chance!

You will have to go out and buy them like the rest of us had to! I am sure they are available from an illegal download site somewhere, but I assure you, you WILL get caught!

isofa

Well it's commercial software, so isn't available free.

You could try and find a genuine copy on eBay, but genuine and software on eBay aren't that common! Window 98SE hasn't been sold for years, it's hard to even find XP available now, so second hand is usually the only option.

Baldur

You can buy XP, but it's certainly not free - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/114048

Donnie

How about Ubuntu?

Marty_J

There's always ReactOS; I guess it depends what you want to do with it.

isofa

Marty_J wrote: »

There's always ReactOS; I guess it depends what you want to do with it.

Interesting link Marty, shall try that out in a virtual machine when I've got a moment the image is only 33.5Mb!

esuhl

underlay_guru wrote: »

I am sure they are available from an illegal download site somewhere, but I assure you, you WILL get caught!

Oh, come on - the chances of that are highly unlikely. I certainly haven't heard of any case that Microsoft have brought against an individual.

What *is* more likely to happen, is that a downloaded copy will be infected with malware (still reasonably unlikely), or that the OS will stop working when MS realise that you are using a product key that has been used in breach of the licence agreement, or that you will have installed a hacked/botched version of the OS that tries to defeat any licence-validation checks, but inadvertently indroduces stability issues and (theoretically) additional security vulnerabilities.

In other words, you almost certainly WILL NOT get caught, but you WILL PROBABLY have a lot of hassle that won't necessarily be over once you've got the OS installed.

My advice: buy a legit licence or just install GNU/Linux. Zenwalk Linux is fully-featured, but lightweight, easy-to-use, and will perform well on fairly old hardware.

esuhl

isofa wrote: »

Interesting link Marty, shall try that out in a virtual machine when I've got a moment the image is only 33.5Mb!

Ooh! Let us know what you think! I tried it a few years ago (when it was trying to emulate Win 95) and it was a great concept that hadn't really been developed to a usable level. It installed... but that was about it!

For anyone interested, there's a few more "exotic" OSes listet here:
http://www.getwonder.com/09/10-unusual-operating-systems.html

Simon_B_2

Web OS's are an interesting idea has anybody used one?

http://www.masternewmedia.org/operating_systems/web-operating-systems-virtual-desktops/best-web-os-and-virtual-desktops-guide.htm

I would love to be using Ubuntu but i need Microsoft Office for nearly all of my computer time