Does anybody (still) use Windows Me?

That’s the gist of this post:

Do you–or someone you know–use Windows Me (Millennium Edition)? (“Did you ever use Windows Me” might be a reasonable question, but…)

If so, why?

I’m curious. A recent PC Magazine back-page humor piece has “personality profiles” for users of various OSes, and it includes one for Windows Me. That startled me a bit, because I assumed that this turkey had long since disappeared.

Am I wrong? Is there any plausible reason not to migrate to XP? (Not asking on my own behalf. I was using XP/SP2, and am now happily using Vista Home Premium… I never had Me on my PC, fortunately.)

11 Responses to “Does anybody (still) use Windows Me?”

  1. Allison says:

    *shudders* I still own a laptop with ME on it, but thats only because my first attempt to put linux on it didn’t work… When I get time, I still intend to put linux on it and see if it runs faster then, because there is no way I’m ever breaking that clunker back out for regular use… (It actually served me fairly well for 4 years of college (if you don’t count all the times it locked up to the point that the power button didn’t even work, when I didn’t shut the computer down everytime I left the computer), but by the time I graduated and headed to library school, I was way too sick of the problems with ME to not get a new laptop with XP on it…)

    Windows ME is the only version of Windows I’ve ever had major issues with…. Personally it ranks up there with AOL on the list of “phases of technology I am forever thankful are gone”

    The only plausible reason I can think of not to migrate would be those people whom are not going to spend money upgrading an old computer. People whom use the computer less than an hour a day. My grandmother’s computer I believe still has Windows 98 on it, but then again, the only thing she uses the computer for is to go online (via dialup!) to pay her bills. So I’m sure there are a lot of people of that sort out there with Windows ME still, but not of the sort who would be reading PC Magazine!

  2. walt says:

    Actually, I don’t see any reason why someone with Windows 98, particularly Windows 98 SE, would feel compelled to upgrade, particularly on an older machine. While XP is a lot more stable and considerably more powerful, 98SE was reasonably stable and worked pretty well.

    That’s why I singled out ME–not because it’s old but because it was probably the worst version of Windows since it became commercially significant. (Windows 1 and 2 don’t count, and 3.0 barely counts.)

  3. Jon Gorman says:

    My wife used ME for a number of years up to about two years ago. I hated it and generally refused to touch the box since it crashed every single time I used it. She never had an issue, but I suspect her usage is different than mine. (I tend to use lots of apps and keep plowing ahead, relying on the cache to eventually catch up to me on slower machiens).

    The final straw happened when she got a mp3 player (creative zen) that claimed to work with ME on the package. I can’t really fault them, since there’s no reason it shouldn’t have. It worked as a mass storage device, all else fails and it should have done that. After numerous crashes and trying to get it installed, I backed up her files, bought a copy of windows xp through the University.

    However, had it not been for that, she might still be using windows ME. (Well, that particular computer had a rather spectacular power supply failure a few months ago, but had I been faster with replacing said power supply that might not have happened either).

    My guess, there are still people using ME if for no other reason than their computer have not died yet and they aren’t going to upgrade anything.

  4. Laura says:

    My mother has a laptop that runs ME, and she says it does everything she needs it to, although she did have to have someone fiddle with it in order to get it to connect to wifi. I told her that hardcore computer people would smirk, but she figures she’s just trying to do her job, which does not involve being a hard core computer person.

  5. walt says:

    Fascinating. I hear people talking about Vista being broken and wonder just what they mean (even my minor nuisance, the secondary display always starting out on the right, has cured itself). I think of Me as broken, but clearly it works for some people…and there’s nothing wrong with that.

    I wouldn’t smirk (but then I’m no hardcore computer person, as witness my new notebook that, Hz-for-Hz, is technically slower than my 5.5-year-old one, although that’s nonsense). I’d just see whether it was compatible with XP and, if so, try to upgrade–but, well, I can understand why people just leave well enough alone if things aren’t crashing very often.

    Thanks, all

  6. Ruth Ellen says:

    I do. For at least another couple of weeks, until the computer I ordered yesterday arrives. Every time I had to tell somebody that I still use ME I would preface it with “don’t laugh…”

    I’ve had that computer for eight years, it’s worked like a champ, and the only reason I’m buying a new one right this minute is that I desperately need a new PDA (my current one is also about eight years old) and the new ones won’t work on it. (I had planned to get a new one this year anyway, but the PDA thing is what got me moving.) Also, I was told that I really can’t use MP3 players and their software.

    Why haven’t I upgraded? For seven and a half years it was because there was no reason. For the last few months it’s because it turns out that my processor can’t support XP. I’m glad to hear that you’re not having problems with Vista, as that was one of the reasons I was holding off on buying a new computer.

  7. Jon Gorman says:

    I know this thread is probably about wrapped up, but I realized I haven’t dropped what else I’ve heard through the grapevine. Most of the complaints I’ve heard about Vista stability seems to revolve around people who are upgrading existing systems, not purchasing an entirely new machines. If you get a middle of the road machine I would guess you’ll probably be fine.

  8. walt says:

    Jon, Thanks for that–it makes a lot of sense, and maybe helps clarify the “Vista’s awful” stuff. I can believe Vista makes a difficult upgrade, for various reasons…and, of course, if you’re counting on using all the eye candy in Vista Aero, you may be disappointed.

    (It appears that Vista’s turning off portions of my eye candy because using two high-res displays with integrated graphics pushes the graphics capability: I note that my business-graphics Windows Experience number dropped from 3.4 to 3.0 after I added the second display. Fortunately, I don’t give a good whatever about the eye candy…and may yet go in and turn most or all of it off.)

    No need for the thread to stop, although a Vista thread might make more sense attached to the post after this one…

    In the PC press, I took note of the fact that the big-name editor who proclaims most loudly that Vista is broken and should be backed out entirely, is also the editor who proclaimed a year ago that Blu-ray was dead and HD DVD was the sure winner–and two months ago was only willing to say that maybe it was a dead heat. I regard his opinions as highly as I regard those of John Dvorak, which is to say not very.

  9. Bill says:

    I still use ME, and have since 2000. I have never had any issues whether running memory intensive CAD programs, or flight or train simulators. The one change I made to my computer when I got it was memory upgrade from 128 to 512, which at the time was on sale, a steal at $40, but I can’t say that made it run better, as I have a laptop with 128 on it and it runs just fine. I’m no novice either. I’ve had every Windows OS since 3.1, and even though Windows Me has outlasted its support from MS, it performs better than the XP at work.
    The only thing that bothers me is the MS affiliates that are not making their products for 9x systems, has to be XP or Vista. Why? Are you forcing me to go to your competitor?
    Yes, this is still plenty software for 9x systems should you care to go look for it.
    Another thing that bothers me is people on a fixed income who may not have the money to upgrade or buy new computers. What about them?
    I see it as this: Just because GM no longer makes parts for my ’57 Chevy doesn’t mean I’m going to stop driving it.

  10. Britney says:

    Not everyone is a computer nerd. Computer nerds suck.

  11. walt says:

    Well, Britney, since there’s no link to suggest spam, I’ll leave your comment–but, you know, given that I’ve been interested in and writing about PCs for more than two decades, this just may not be the ideal blog for you.