Windows 98... how to explain to a customer why it's not good anymore

[stevena184]

Today has been an interesting day, some guy came in and bought a printer for a PC with ''Windows 8'' as he said, then he came back in and told me it wouldn't work and he had Windows 98SE and why it doesn't work with that no more...

I explained to him technology moves on, and a 15 year old computer wont work with a brand new HP wireless printer and nothing new would even work with it. I convinced him to keep the Printer and to use it on a new PC as he was thinking of upgrading which now means he's halfway there to getting himself online. 

 

This happens around here more often that I thought it would when I moved here, and people even wondering why their 17 year old PC with Windows 95 on it has failed or not working no more or even why developers wont make software for it no more!

What do you guys think about this? 

[Samdb]

Because it was made in 1998...

[Darell3]

Maybe because its to darn old? ;p

[stevena184]

Yeah, but respectfully telling a customer this can be hard because they could think we are trying to pull a fast one when we are not...

[Hyydrah]

Yeah, but respectfully telling a customer this can be hard because they could think we are trying to pull a fast one when we are not...

Tell them that many applications won't run well, if at all, on a computer that old. Show them something like Google Earth in 3D mode and show them what they're missing out on that a modern HTPC can do.

[ERSCreeper]

Meh, not much to say. People don't like spending money if it does what they need it to do.

[stevena184]

Meh, not much to say. People don't like spending money if it does what they need it to do.

Yeah, but when it wont print because they have ruined their print heads on the old printer by not printing frequently, it then becomes a problem. I'm sure he's going to buy another laptop from the local TV store but hopefully he ends up happy with the result and doesn't think we where arrogant to Windows 98. All his documents are done in MS office so it's transferable which isn't a problem  

[3DDude]

Explain that Microsoft

The company that MAKES WINDOWS

has released several newer versions.

 

I believe support for Windows XP is now over or since 2014.

 

So WIn98 is to old..

 

 

Explain that

after Win98 SE, there was 2000, ME millenium, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and now Windows 8.

 

After telling him that, he should realize that there are several versions that have been released since Win98SE.. haha.

*note that there a probably more, versions of windows.. :P *

[TheDigitalRealm]

I guess some of the less tech savy or some from the older generation aren't used to the "throw away" technology of today. Going back 20 or 30 years. Things were made to last. That's why there are still 50 year old cars on the road, but in 50 years time you can guarantee there wont be any 2013 Ford Fiesta's on the road.

 

Do you guys understand what I'm getting at?  

 

I wish computer parts would last 17 years. :(

[willielikesmonkeys]

When the first automobiles came out they were loud and broke down alot. By the time Henry Ford was in full swing 90% of the problems had been solved. Intel core was Henry Ford and the i7 extreme is corvette. That old PC was an early version. While they don't need a corvette to get around town a Honda civic makes the entire ride alot more comfortable, not to mention how getting service on it it WAY easier.

[Fetzie]

I guess some of the less tech savy or some from the older generation aren't used to the "throw away" technology of today. Going back 20 or 30 years. Things were made to last. That's why there are still 50 year old cars on the road, but in 50 years time you can guarantee there wont be any 2013 Ford Fiesta's on the road.

 

Do you guys understand what I'm getting at?

 

I wish computer parts would last 17 years. :(

 

A 2500K bought today will likely last until 2030. It will be technically obsolete by 2015, but it'll "work" for at least a decade after that.

[3DDude]

That is because company want to make money.. and make things obsolete.

There is a light bulb which runs for about 130 years now, IT still works!

They CAN make something last very long, but the company's dont want to because it's harder to sell you something new.. if you have something thats already working..

See: http://dotsub.com/view/aed3b8b2-1889-4df5-ae63-ad85f5572f27

I guess some of the less tech savy or some from the older generation aren't used to the "throw away" technology of today. Going back 20 or 30 years. Things were made to last. That's why there are still 50 year old cars on the road, but in 50 years time you can guarantee there wont be any 2013 Ford Fiesta's on the road.

Do you guys understand what I'm getting at?

I wish computer parts would last 17 years. :(

[TheDigitalRealm]

That is because company want to make money.. and the sales guys

 

There is a light bulb which runs for about 130 years now, IT still works!

They CAN make something last very long, but the company's dont want to because it's harder to sell you something new.. if you have something thats already working..

 

See: http://dotsub.com/view/aed3b8b2-1889-4df5-ae63-ad85f5572f27

 

It sucks ass. :(

 

 

A 2500K bought today will likely last until 2030. It will be technically obsolete by 2015, but it'll "work" for at least a decade after that.

 

Yeah, that's great, when HDD's and SSD's reliably and continuously last that long (on the consumer level) then I'm all for it.

[carma143]

Tell them new computers have much better, brighter, larger screens to see icons easier. Also everything looks more "natural" and its much more secure because Microsoft no longer creates patches against viruses.

[threee6]

ask him how old his car is lol if he's driving a 15 year old wreck then don't hold your hopes up in selling him a new PC, if it's only a couple years old ask him why he got rid of his last one.

[Art Vandelay]

I can understand still using Windows XP or 2000, but 98 wasn't even that good.

[TheDigitalRealm]

I can understand still using Windows XP or 2000, but 98 wasn't even that good

 

Having sold my laptop to help fund my first PC build, I'm using a laptop with XP on it at the moment and it's still a solid operating system. 

[felixbearpig]

after you tell them its not good anymore show them this

[JupiteL]

Microsoft don't support that anymore.. And just tell them that the latest OS is good, that'll do to my grandpa

[grayperview]

just switch it on and let it run for 5 mins and watch it crash 8 times ;)

[Lil Chillbil]

I frankly experience this a lot with my work. some guy brings in a pentium 4 running xp and the thing wasn't displaying right. I told them that their gpu failed and the guy is like 49 and has 2 kids with him around the age of 14 and 16, so the 16 year old having checked his email once and "knows how to plug in a computer" is now a computer "expert". And said so if we were to get a really awesome gpu it would run battlefield 3 right? I thinking quickly told them I would have to see what kind of port they have on the system and said to watch this video about the subject of bottlenecking on the monitor while I was doing that (I pulled up the linustechtips ncix video) so it turns out that it actually did have a pci express 16x slot... one of the kids had apparently while I was gone walked over to the gpu section of the superstore and was holding in his hand a gtx 690 and asked if it would work. Well... Technically yes but... "But what" said that guy who was with them who now seemed to be getting all defensive because he was not in his "element" working on cars at his autoparts store. 1st of all you only have a 250 watt psu and that would need to be upgraded. "ok". And you only have 512mb of ram... "so we'll buy a brand new power supply and as much ram as I can afford" But its getting old I said. "old, this computers only 7 years old" and thats when I snapped and started pointing all around the store "Look around you... the world has passed this pc by... no one is running xp anymore we have 8 core processors and 32 gigs of ram... not 40 gig ide hdds..." Listen i'm not gonna let you walk out of here screwed over with a gtx 690 in a pentium 4 system... because no one would be happy, For the same price I could build you a nice balanced i3 rig with tons of room to grow over 7 years. 

 

 

At the end of the day everyone was happy, but this is one of the more rare occasions where people are not stubborn and are willing to learn

[xkronusx]

Best way i found to educate people is to compare cars to computers, explaining how lanes work,

power draw, frequency, compatibility and why it is the way it is; it gets to be to much.

 

People understand easy terms, an FX-8350 is like a V8, has 8 cores driving power, a cpu

is your engine etc.

 

I have a bunch of different ways to put terms, things i've learned over the years

to quickly explain to people without making them feel stupid.

[criso8]

Tell them its like everything else in their lives. Things stop working after a while. You don't expect a 15 year old car to do everything a brand new one does.

[Glaith]

I have gone through this countless of times and the conclusion is alot of people dont like change, and are scared that they need to learn new things. Best thing you can do is show them how cheap it is to build a new system these days. Back when there 98 pcs were new they payed 1.5k to 3k for it. Cheapness always persuades.

[Phillyphries]

My dad has 98 machines just to run some old CAD/CAM software that needs to use a parallel port for the program key hahah.

 

I've installed 98 on so many machines it's not funny, it's a nightmare