Originally posted by Catt
That maybe so but still a large number of computers run Windows 98 and ME.
I am not saying that the operating systems aren't old, just that most software released on the PC is still compatible with all versions of Windows from 98 SE up to XP. I am very surprised Apple have made iTunes only compatible with 2000 and XP and at any rate to the best of my knowledge ME is younger than 2000.
The deal is not with how old the OS is, but the internal APIs.
There are MANY Windows API niceties which exist in the NT codebase (2k, XP) that never have and obviously never will exist in the 9x codebase (95-ME).
The reasoning behind not supporting ME is thus:
1) Cutting-edge folks, who are generally more likely to both be shopping for tunes onliune and have an iPod which is where Apple makes the money off iTunes, are significantly more likely to have Windows XP than ME, which was widely regarded as an unstable mess of an OS, or Win 98SE, which, while significantly more stable than ME, is still 5+ years old.
2) The APIs they wanted to use were available on Win2k and XP (XP added very few new APIs aside from .NET crapola). Win2k support thus comes relatively "free" with XP support.
3) Physically supporting 2k and XP through tech support is hard enough; supporting the 9x branch of Windows on ANY software more than triples your overall support costs per customer.
So, 2k and XP it is. If you can find a copy of Win2k, I'd highly advise going that route over XP, which adds some flash and sizzle and lots of toddler-friendly colors, but also takes up more resources and thinks it knows better than you more often than Win2k.
