Downloading Music/Windows ME

So I go to the new Napster website and it says Napster doesn't support
my operating system - Windows Millennium. Last week I go to that Apple
i-toons site and it says it supports Windows XP and 2000 or something, but
no mention of Windows ME. So how in the heck am I supposed to start paying
for downloading songs if these stupid sites don't support my operating
system which isn't that old to begin with. I'm willing to pay .99 cents per
song, I'm all willing to do that. But I aint willing to change my operating
system.

And why does everybody hate Windows ME anyway? I was watching Call For
Help today and they were making fun of Windows ME. Why is it so hated?

Thanks

It is my understanding that Windows ME was a very buggy successor to Windows
98 that was only released as a money grab for Microsoft. Shortly after,
Microsoft released XP and got the same customers to pay for the upgrade yet
again.

(Not trying to slam your OS or start a flame war ... I have never used ME
before ... just what I've heard so take it for what its worth)


"Von Fourche" wrote in message
link.net...


So I go to the new Napster website and it says Napster doesn't support
my operating system - Windows Millennium. Last week I go to that Apple
i-toons site and it says it supports Windows XP and 2000 or something, but
no mention of Windows ME. So how in the heck am I supposed to start
paying
for downloading songs if these stupid sites don't support my operating
system which isn't that old to begin with. I'm willing to pay .99 cents
per
song, I'm all willing to do that. But I aint willing to change my
operating
system.

And why does everybody hate Windows ME anyway? I was watching Call
For
Help today and they were making fun of Windows ME. Why is it so hated?

Thanks

Microsoft and its end of life policy for operating systems is crazy.
Imagine if GM stopped making oil filters and spark plugs for cars
after they were 3 years old. Not only did they stop making oil
filters, but they refuse to allow anyone else to make the filters by
reverse engineering. Now imagine if a car had a safety flaw (ie
security hole) and millions of people still use this car, but GM
refuses to fix it because they have ended that cars product life
cycle. Not only do they refuse to fix it, but they refuse to allow
any else to fix it. Crazy huh? Such is the Microsoft product life
cycle.

"Von Fourche" wrote in
link.net:

And why does everybody hate Windows ME anyway? I was watching
Call For
Help today and they were making fun of Windows ME. Why is it so
hated?

ME did not run well on some older computers when it was released. My
computer was shipped with it and has a sticker on it that says "Optimized
for Windows ME."

ME is basically Win 98SE with some features borrowed from Win 2000, like
the TCP/IP stack. However, a lot of the window dressing that came with ME
can cause problems, like PC Health and System Restore.

It also shipped with an absolute crap version of IE 5.5 that caused
problems with crashing. Upgrading IE or eradicating it makes the system run
much better.

If Win 98SE supported my Winmodem, I'd probably be running it, as it is
skinnier and has been out long enough for most of the bugs to be worked
out. It might be of interest to note that 98 was also called by many a
buggy, unneeded upgrade to Windows 95.

As it is I am running a stripped down "ME Lite" (no IE, PC Health, System
Restore and other junk like OOBE) and it runs beautifully.

Actually Windows ME used a lot of the newer options that were scheduled
for NT5 (later dubbed Windows 2000 for marketing reasons). Additionally M$
shook off a lot of the crash issues by requiring all third parties to be
recertified to produce hardware & software with the M$ logo and approval.
They also did not grandfather any previously certified items.

To be brief many of the drivers were derivatives of derivatives of
software originally written for windows 2.0(+). By dumping all of the
Windows legacy code they found Windows 2,000 not only smaller, but more
stable. They then applied this logic to third party software and found it
also applied. A point of contention long know to M$, but just not owned up
to. No matter what crashes the OS, M$ was always the one people cursed
about. Rightly so for any and all products certified by them, as for
uncertified apps they still got the blame, guilty or not.

Me is a blend of the old and the new with the legacy coding still in
there along with derivative (et al) third party drivers to boot. So it
shares the promise of M$s new OS to come and the curse of Windows long and
less than perfect history. And lets face it for all the polish it just
isn't what was promised, but then what software is.

KC


"donutbandit" wrote in message
...
"Von Fourche" wrote in
link.net:

And why does everybody hate Windows ME anyway? I was watching
Call For
Help today and they were making fun of Windows ME. Why is it so
hated?

ME did not run well on some older computers when it was released. My
computer was shipped with it and has a sticker on it that says "Optimized
for Windows ME."

ME is basically Win 98SE with some features borrowed from Win 2000, like
the TCP/IP stack. However, a lot of the window dressing that came with ME
can cause problems, like PC Health and System Restore.

It also shipped with an absolute crap version of IE 5.5 that caused
problems with crashing. Upgrading IE or eradicating it makes the system
run
much better.

If Win 98SE supported my Winmodem, I'd probably be running it, as it is
skinnier and has been out long enough for most of the bugs to be worked
out. It might be of interest to note that 98 was also called by many a
buggy, unneeded upgrade to Windows 95.

As it is I am running a stripped down "ME Lite" (no IE, PC Health, System
Restore and other junk like OOBE) and it runs beautifully.

"donutbandit" wrote in message
...
"Von Fourche" wrote in
link.net:

ME did not run well on some older computers when it was released. My
computer was shipped with it and has a sticker on it that says "Optimized
for Windows ME."

ME is basically Win 98SE with some features borrowed from Win 2000, like
the TCP/IP stack. However, a lot of the window dressing that came with ME
can cause problems, like PC Health and System Restore.

It also shipped with an absolute crap version of IE 5.5 that caused
problems with crashing. Upgrading IE or eradicating it makes the system
run
much better.

If Win 98SE supported my Winmodem, I'd probably be running it, as it is
skinnier and has been out long enough for most of the bugs to be worked
out. It might be of interest to note that 98 was also called by many a
buggy, unneeded upgrade to Windows 95.

As it is I am running a stripped down "ME Lite" (no IE, PC Health, System
Restore and other junk like OOBE) and it runs beautifully.


What's wrong with system restore? I sleep easier at night knowing that
if I mess up my computer I could restore it to an earlier point, although I
haven't used it yet. Does Windows XP have system restore?

Yes, and it is of course an upgrade from the ME version. ME in some ways
served as at test bed (beta) for many of the new things people saw in
Windows 2000.

KC

"Von Fourche" wrote in message
nk.net...

"donutbandit" wrote in message
...
"Von Fourche" wrote in
link.net:

ME did not run well on some older computers when it was released. My
computer was shipped with it and has a sticker on it that says
"Optimized
for Windows ME."

ME is basically Win 98SE with some features borrowed from Win 2000, like
the TCP/IP stack. However, a lot of the window dressing that came with
ME
can cause problems, like PC Health and System Restore.

It also shipped with an absolute crap version of IE 5.5 that caused
problems with crashing. Upgrading IE or eradicating it makes the system
run
much better.

If Win 98SE supported my Winmodem, I'd probably be running it, as it is
skinnier and has been out long enough for most of the bugs to be worked
out. It might be of interest to note that 98 was also called by many a
buggy, unneeded upgrade to Windows 95.

As it is I am running a stripped down "ME Lite" (no IE, PC Health,
System
Restore and other junk like OOBE) and it runs beautifully.


What's wrong with system restore? I sleep easier at night knowing
that
if I mess up my computer I could restore it to an earlier point, although
I
haven't used it yet. Does Windows XP have system restore?

What's wrong with system restore? I sleep easier at night knowing that
if I mess up my computer I could restore it to an earlier point, although I
haven't used it yet. Does Windows XP have system restore?


On my Mom's Laptop she had a 6 gig Hard Drive, the OS was WIN ME. 4.5
gigs of that HD was filled with ME's system Restore Files. That is
what is wrng with System Restore

You can set System Restore to only use a certain percentage of the disk or
turn it off completely. It has helped me on a few occasions.

"the yeti" wrote in message
om...
What's wrong with system restore? I sleep easier at night knowing
that
if I mess up my computer I could restore it to an earlier point,
although I
haven't used it yet. Does Windows XP have system restore?


On my Mom's Laptop she had a 6 gig Hard Drive, the OS was WIN ME. 4.5
gigs of that HD was filled with ME's system Restore Files. That is
what is wrng with System Restore

Apparently, they won't recognize win 97 or 98 either....


"Von Fourche" wrote in message
link.net...


So I go to the new Napster website and it says Napster doesn't support
my operating system - Windows Millennium. Last week I go to that Apple
i-toons site and it says it supports Windows XP and 2000 or something, but
no mention of Windows ME. So how in the heck am I supposed to start
paying
for downloading songs if these stupid sites don't support my operating
system which isn't that old to begin with. I'm willing to pay .99 cents
per
song, I'm all willing to do that. But I aint willing to change my
operating
system.

And why does everybody hate Windows ME anyway? I was watching Call
For
Help today and they were making fun of Windows ME. Why is it so hated?

Thanks