3 ms·

I still remember using Windos ME as a kid and loved it because it felt more modern than Win98. I still don't get what was so bad about it but then again even if

I still remember using Windos ME as a kid and loved it because it felt more modern than Win98. I still don't get what was so bad about it but then again even if I would know I would have no idea.

gnode 7y ago
Stability was the main issue. My personal experience is that the kernel would crash frequently and unpredictably. If I remember correctly, this would depend to a large extent on drivers, and so vary depending on your hardware. The kernel and driver model design is based on the legacy Windows 9x family, rather than Windows NT (like its successors). Apparently, according to Wikipedia: "Although Windows 9x features memory protection, it does not protect the first megabyte of memory from userland applications. This area of memory contains code critical to the functioning of the operating system, and by writing into this area of memory an application can crash or freeze the operating system. This was a source of instability as faulty applications could accidentally write into this region and with that halt the operating system" As it was aimed exclusively at home users, various features aimed at enterprise (but often desirable to power users) were stripped out or broken.
gandalfian 7y ago
A bunch of gadgets and stuff that worked fine with 95 and 98 mysteriously broke with ME. Because it was a dead end with a short life there was never any incentive to support or fix it. And what was the point of breaking everything for a year?
aasasd 7y ago
Resetting the machine two times a day got old after a while.
mike22 7y ago
I remember first being able to use USB mass storage devices (like a Lexar Jumpdrive with capacity measured in tens of MBs) with ME on the family computer. Then I learned that 98 SE had such support...but my HP Pavilion 8530 (with an AMD K6 CPU!!!) had the original 98. Copying files between the two was still limited to Zip 100s. Slightly related, apparently MSFT put out an update for 95 that included rudimentary USB support.

I still remember using Windos ME as a kid and loved it because it felt more modern than Win98. I still don't get what was so bad about it but then again even if I would know I would have no idea.

gnode 7y ago

Stability was the main issue. My personal experience is that the kernel would crash frequently and unpredictably. If I remember correctly, this would depend to a large extent on drivers, and so vary depending on your hardware. The kernel and driver model design is based on the legacy Windows 9x family, rather than Windows NT (like its successors). Apparently, according to Wikipedia: "Although Windows 9x features memory protection, it does not protect the first megabyte of memory from userland applications. This area of memory contains code critical to the functioning of the operating system, and by writing into this area of memory an application can crash or freeze the operating system. This was a source of instability as faulty applications could accidentally write into this region and with that halt the operating system" As it was aimed exclusively at home users, various features aimed at enterprise (but often desirable to power users) were stripped out or broken.

gandalfian 7y ago

A bunch of gadgets and stuff that worked fine with 95 and 98 mysteriously broke with ME. Because it was a dead end with a short life there was never any incentive to support or fix it. And what was the point of breaking everything for a year?

aasasd 7y ago

Resetting the machine two times a day got old after a while.

mike22 7y ago

I remember first being able to use USB mass storage devices (like a Lexar Jumpdrive with capacity measured in tens of MBs) with ME on the family computer. Then I learned that 98 SE had such support...but my HP Pavilion 8530 (with an AMD K6 CPU!!!) had the original 98. Copying files between the two was still limited to Zip 100s. Slightly related, apparently MSFT put out an update for 95 that included rudimentary USB support.