USB Flash drive makers have formed an alliance (http://news.com.com/2100-1004_3-5113951.html?tag=nefd_top) in order to better promote the media which sold about 5 million units last year and roughly 30 million this year, not like they are needing the extra publicity, or do they? Right now I'm testing Verbatim's (http://www.verbatim.com/products/products.cfm?sub_id=48) Store-n-go 512mb flash drive and I must say it works like a charm.

Microsoft (http://news.com.com/2100-1014_3-5116216.html?tag=nefd_top) will retire several of its products next week, including Windows 98 and SQL Server 7, to comply with a court order related to its dispute with Sun Microsystems over Java.

Taiwan’s mobo shipments (http://www.digitimes.com/NewsShow/Article.asp?datePublish=2003/12/08&pages=B4&seq=102) drop 10-15% in November; graphics card sales on the rise.

NEC Recalls Laser Printers (http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,113794,00.asp) - Overheating problem could cause a fire, company says.

In a rare police crackdown on Internet file-sharing (http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/12/08/sharing.arrests.ap/index.html), two Japanese men were arrested for allegedly disseminating movies and games with software that claimed to protect users' identities.

Intel launches Itanium 2 trial (http://news.com.com/2110-1006_3-5116197.html?tag=st_lh).

Microsoft Designs Your Digital World (http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,113795,00.asp) - Smart phones, SPOT watches will offer seamless computing, company says.

Flash drives appear to be the wave of the future, as they've already begun to force floppy drives out. i mean, a 32 mb flash drive Free After Rebate or a 1.44 mb floppy disk... i think i know which i'm going for. If they come up with a way to boot from the flash drives (if they haven't) then i really see no need for floppies at all, as that is all i use them now for anyway.

Microsoft... phones... i don't want a BSOD on my cellphone everytime i try to send a text message ;-)

Microsoft will retire several of its products next week, including Windows 98 and SQL Server 7, to comply with a court order related to its dispute with Sun Microsystems over Java.

It was only a matter of time until they finally put the dagger in those systems. I personally think it is long overdue, even though 98 was a good OS.

98 se was the best

At this point, you'll probably find it hard to find a recently new hardware rig running anything but XP, 2000, or Linux. I actually thought they quit on 98 last year, haha. :p

On the other hand, I think it's Microsofts way of getting some of the less adapt compuer users to cough up some more dough for a newer OS, to improve sales.. this is Bill Gates we're talking about.

They should really end ME support aswell, that would signify the end of Fat 16/32 DOS based OSes. Woohoo. (not that anyone uses, or that i CONDONE using, winME) :grinthumb

The whole point to killing off old OSes is that it does many good things, first, it drives people to use a newer OS, this is good for MS, as they get your cash, its also good for software companies who have either been releasing an extra version for the older OS version, or writing support into their code. This brings us to hardware companies, they no longer have to worry with support for the dead OS, this can sometimes reduce bugs.

There are a few phases of support for the MS deathlist. First they stop official support, then they stop "extended" support, then they kill it off. There is a list somewhere on MS's site that explains this to more detail. If I remember correctly, this should be the deathblow for 9x(though ME still lurks, and it was based on the 9x kernel, although many people refuse to believe that)