Place your bids on a rare, high value windows OS copy! - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: XOIIO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2014, 08:10:06 pm
content: Yes, that's right, you have the chance to place your bids on one of two rare copies of windows, mind and brand new in their original shrink wrap, product keys unused! Few people are fortunate to possess one of these Magnificent marks of history and technological evolution! Make your bids fast as these hot items are sure to sell fast.That's right, none other, the peak of operating system evolution...Windows 98 Second Edition!Yup, found these rare beauties in stuff someone was actually giving away, can you believe it?In all seriousness, it was quite amusing to find, I also have a couple of windows XP though those product keys were taken off and used on computers, the shrink wrap is still intact. These babies even come with AOL 4.0 and 100 free hours! (I have another black and white pamphlet sitting to the side in good shape too, if you want a scan of that for some reason)I figured this might bring back some nostalgia for people that were old enough to remember this coming out new.Anyways, how much of a fortune do you think I am sitting on here?

author: skipjackrc4
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2014, 08:17:44 pm
content: Why is there no $0 option?They honestlymightbe worth something in 30-50 years, but I don't think anybody would care now.

author: KJDS
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2014, 08:21:01 pm
content: Some of us remember using PDP11s before Mr Gates had launched the PC. Win 98 was launched 19 years after i wrote my first "HELLO WORLD" program.

author: XOIIO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2014, 08:21:45 pm
content: Quote from: skipjackrc4 on March 22, 2014, 08:17:44 pmYou are right, I fixed it and added one for you.

author: Lightages
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 22, 2014, 08:25:39 pm
content: Windows 98SE was my third favorite MS OS with a GUI. In order best to worst: Windows 7, Windows 2000, Windows 98SE, Windows XP SP1+, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 95, Windows ME, Windows Vista, Windows 8. Well the last two are tied actually. I was able to keep Windows 98SE running stably for 2.5 years without reinstalling. I once used Windows ME for a server and made it stable except it needed to be rebooted every week or so to reset the internal clock register which had a some ridiculous low maximum value.

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2014, 08:27:23 pm
content: sorry, i win

author: cyr
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2014, 08:40:21 pm
content: I think I still have my DOS 6.22 and Win 3.11 floppies somewhere.98SE was a pretty good OS, the first windows version that didn't crash daily and my windows of choice until XP. It's been downhill from there, and now I try my best to stay away from MS products. Especially the indescribable user interface abomination that is windows 8....

author: SArepairman
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2014, 09:02:10 pm
content: what the fuck that is like bringing some iraq war vet with severe PTSD the first IED found in afganistan as a presentill pay you to destroy this traumatic part of history.

author: XOIIO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2014, 09:05:39 pm
content: Quote from: SArepairman on March 22, 2014, 09:02:10 pmLOL, I'd take that offer and throw it on a fire with some gas XD

author: T3sl4co1l
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2014, 09:11:41 pm
content: I want to say I've got MSDOS 3.2 or 3.3 laying around somewhere. Not OEM disks though. S'pose I should check some day.Tim

author: Noise Floor
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2014, 09:19:20 pm
content: I truly love how you took the time to protect the product key.

author: linux-works
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2014, 10:46:10 pm
content: why run such an old os when you can run the latest:I'm going to do 100 parallel partial installs, then just merge them all together to save time."imagine a beowu-..."LOL

author: HackedFridgeMagnet
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2014, 10:54:34 pm
content: ^ that can't be true. Can it?

author: linux-works
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2014, 10:56:46 pm
content: you should see it on 5.25" and 8" floppies. it stands 8 feet high!(lol)I don't know if its pshop or real, to be honest. but its an internet joke, at this point, if you search for it.

author: XOIIO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2014, 11:12:51 pm
content: Quote from: linux-works on March 22, 2014, 10:46:10 pmOk man that's awesome. One of over 3711 XD

author: XOIIO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2014, 11:25:37 pm
content: Listed it for the heck of it, if you like feel free to use the buy it now feature, surely a steam for a priceless item! Shipping a boxed item is usually close to $18, so I figure an envelope item should be around half that (for similar weights, I haven't shipped a whole lot out)http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=171276648106

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2014, 11:38:28 pm
content: Quote from: linux-works on March 22, 2014, 10:46:10 pmHilareous! I recall installing Windows 3.1 took feeding 8 disks or so in the computer. At one instance I didn't push the eject button but the on/off switch when I was at disk 6 or 7

author: peter.mitchell
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2014, 01:48:10 am
content: i tossed out a copy of win95 with usb support the other day.

author: XOIIO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2014, 02:25:58 am
content: Quote from: peter.mitchell on March 23, 2014, 01:48:10 amLol, I got one or two of those too.

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2014, 02:42:01 am
content: Quote from: linux-works on March 22, 2014, 10:46:10 pmHa ha that's hilarious.Does Win 8 even include floppy disk drivers?

author: ampdoctor
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2014, 06:49:29 am
content: Quote from: Psi on March 22, 2014, 08:27:23 pmUmm...not quite!A little voice inside my head kind of wants to try to install these on one of my old 500meg hard drives I've got laying around over here. LOL

author: Bored@Work
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2014, 07:47:17 am
content: Quote from: wilfred on March 22, 2014, 11:20:48 pmWindows "stability" should be compared to real operating systems. And in that regard Windows was and is still probably 20 years behind what real operating systems could then and can today do. Or you could argue the other way around, Windows obstructed real progress in the area of common (personal, home) computers for decades. I am talking about real progress as opposite to Microsoft's definition of "innovation".On top of that Windows set a bad example for generations of "programmers" who adapted Microsoft sloppiness and bad practice, considering it not just the industry standard, but laws of nature.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2014, 08:25:29 am
content: I still have a copy of Win ME around, never used it. Used the nice 98SE disks as coasters for coffee cups for years, seeing as I only ever opened one of the packs, and ghosted the installs onto disks, then edited the product key into the registry. Was easy to just do one install and clone onto 20 identical machines, rather than actually assemble all with the CDROM drives. They did not need any external drives, as they were expensive in 1998, and most would be unused. Cloning was a lot faster than the install, I generally was able to clone the drive in the time it took to assemble the kit of parts into the case.

author: nihilism
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2014, 08:46:58 am
content: Are we still playing?Not one, but two copies of MSDOS 5.0

author: jaxbird
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2014, 03:41:00 pm
content: Quote from: Bored@Work on March 23, 2014, 07:47:17 amIf you are such a brilliant developer, how come you haven't applied for a job with Microsoft to write them a "proper" OS, surely you'd be worth billions with your incredible insights and talents vs. the totally worthless and sloppy people people currently employed.Surely Mr Gates hit the right spot with Windows, proven by their current size and market share. It's clearly the preferred OS among both professional and private users, hard to argue with the numbers.

author: rexxar
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2014, 06:37:45 pm
content: I've got two copies of Windows 95 on floppies around here somewhere. One is 9 disks, I think, and the other is about 37

author: linux-works
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2014, 07:53:47 pm
content: Quote from: jaxbird on March 23, 2014, 03:41:00 pmwhich numbers? you realize you cant get real data on this, right?why? because MS has forced most vendors of pc hardware to bundle windows with it. lots of malicious reasons; your discount will disappear if you sell linux preinstalled or even 'naked pcs' as MS calls them. and so, vendors just bundle windows with every single pc and that's what inflates the sales figures. if customers really had a choice, you'd see a lot less 'sales' of windows.on the embedded side, though, windows is mostly dead, now. win-ce had a good run for a while and its lineage is still used here and there, but every time I hear of a plastic router or firewall or NAS or other consumer box, its linux inside. sometimes you may have a few of those at home (set-top tv box and dvr, too) but only have 1 windows box at home. if you counted all the embedded linux installs, it would give some serious number competition to MS's windows install counts.

author: TheBorg
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2014, 08:23:07 pm
content: Quote from: linux-works on March 23, 2014, 07:53:47 pmReally? Most of the people I have asked don't have a clue of what "Linux" is. Face it, MS is the industry standard. Consumers want an OS that is easy to use, Historically, Linux has been the programmers/developers OS, and it (in the past) required a lot more work to make it useful. Nowadays it has gotten more consumer friendly and easy to work with. Working with a command line and sudo apt is something not a lot of people want to have to deal with.

author: linux-works
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2014, 08:34:58 pm
content: linux on desktop can be completely managed without a CLI. you are going on VERY VERY old info and are out of date.most people in the tech areas do know what linux is, at least in my area of the country.and windows is far from the industry standard. some grads come out knowing windows but most of the kids I see from school, that enter the workplace already know quite a lot about unix-like systems.on most jobs I've had, devels had unix on the desktop and only had to resort to windows for things like corp mail (sometimes) and Word (sometimes). most of the development is linux based, on servers and networking gear. my last company was an exception since they were all windows on the desktop and windows+java for *linux server devel* (go figure; their target platform was redhat server but they did their devel and debug on windows. then again, we didn't have very good people working there, I have to admit; and mgmt was not very clued-in when they picked MS as the corp strategy for a server-based software company!)

author: TheBorg
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2014, 08:52:48 pm
content: Quote from: linux-works on March 23, 2014, 08:34:58 pmPretty much my point. MS has been standard for most consumers. I wouldn't put people who work with a lot of tech into the "consumer" category. They're more like power-users. I would have to agree with you that in the tech side of things, I am surprised microsoft has held out this long.

author: rexxar
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2014, 09:31:27 pm
content: Quote from: TheBorg on March 23, 2014, 08:23:07 pmI agree that Windows is, unfortunately the standard (for now). We use it at work and it's caused nothing but trouble. On the other hand, our IT admin for some reason decided it'd be a good idea to buy new Linux thin clients for our public PC lab. People had no idea what was going on, and no one could figure out how to use the damn things. They didn't even have MS Office, which is 80% of our lab usage!!(Actually, the reason he did this is because he's completely uncertified and entirely incompitent, but still makes more than anyone but the director)Ubuntu is trying very, very had to make the OS more attractive to consumers. Too hard, I think. I like to call it 'linux for grannies'. I absolutely hate what it's become. Friggin Software Center? And the stupid way that Gnome comes set up by defualt really irritates me, I find it unusable. I just use Xubuntu and nuke Software Center in favor of Synaptic.

author: Neverther
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2014, 09:42:08 pm
content: When was the last time you bought screensavers and desktop backgrounds?5 1/4 by mail request.I think thats no longer valid.I got OS/2 Wrap 4 CD somewhere but only could find 2.1 "manual" that came with floppies I know I don't have anymore.Win 3.11 minifloppies everywhere as I remember reinstalling that couple times.And InternetExlorer 4.0 CD....As for linux desktops, currently the only one I feel is good for dumping on old windows user is Cinnamon.Maybe KDE but that's a resourcehog when compared to cinnamon.

author: justanothercanuck
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 24, 2014, 02:03:01 am
content: I found this at work last year. Still in it's original wrapper.The 6.22 4-disk set is still a nice find though.