Giving Away Windows 98SE and Lotus SmartSuite
» Email someone you know about this article.
I’d like to give a good nonprofit or government agency Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition (98SE) and/or IBM Lotus SmartSuite 9.8.1, free.
Windows is a computer operating system. SmartSuite has a word processor, a spreadsheet, and a database manager. They work together. SmartSuite 9.8.1 can run on Windows 98SE. To determine whether Windows 98SE is compatible with a computer that you have, find the system requirements for Windows 98SE (there are some links below).
These are full versions, not upgrade versions. You do not need an older version or older software to install or use these.
They are on optical discs. These are originals (to be precise, copies that were produced by or at the behest of Microsoft and IBM, respectively). Therefore, they do not include unauthorized malware from outside of Microsoft or IBM, respectively, a potential risk with floppies or downloads, especially with illegal downloads. If a product key or similar identifier is required for installation, I will include it with the disc or discs. If I have a backup of the disc or discs, I’ll include it. Any backup was by me. I will not be keeping a copy or backup of what I send you. These will be given for use only in accordance with their licenses. They are not presently installed anywhere. The nonprofit or agency may use this software only in accordance with law.
This is useful for anyone who needs the software or a legal copy for compliance with licensing.
Also, a developer might need it to be sure that an app being designed or maintained is compatible with Windows 98SE, if 98SE is still in use where the developer works or at a client's institution. Or a user might need it because an app is needed and it doesn't run well on newer Windows but will run fine on 98SE.
If someone has a newer Windows from an upgrade and finds downgrading to 98SE to be useful but the downgrade license too expensive (Microsoft's upgrade license may forbid downgrading without a license permitting downgrading), this disc avoids that requirement. If you want to buy a used computer that can run 98, it likely will be very inexpensive on the Internet, and even cheaper if you have good hardware repair skills.
I strongly recommend that you not expose Windows 98 Second Edition to the Internet. The browser that comes with that version of Windows is out of date at least in terms of security and you would be placing your network and your files at risk of hostile attack, because it is not feasible to secure any of this software or a computer it is on or its network connection against relatively recent types of attack. To use the Internet, use other software. For example, use another computer, if it has software that is sufficiently secure.
Modern hardware may fail with any old operating system, because you may need a driver that doesn’t exist. In that case, you may need to construct a virtual machine (VM), using other software. I don’t know how to do that, or even if you can, but you may find instructions somewhere online.
I will not be able to assist with installation or use, as I have not used this software in years and do not have it installed anywhere.
For any of these gifts, yours must be, in my sole opinion, a deserving nonprofit or government agency in the United States of America.
Please write to me (postally or by email) with the name of the nonprofit or agency. Please include a description of it, such as what it does. Please include information on how I can find out more about this nonprofit or organization, such as a website address. Please provide contact information that I can verify, such as from the website. If you write postally, please include your email address. Please tell me if you prefer Windows, SmartSuite, or both.
I can ship by ordinary means (probably as mail) and I can pay for the shipping. Allow two weeks for me to ship it, the arrival at your address to be after that.
No returns will be accepted.
My contact information is on this website. See the bottom of this page for a link to my contact information.
More information is available on the Internet, including an official announcement from Microsoft. Although I did not find the system requirements for Windows 98SE on Microsoft’s website or in the Internet Archive for some of Microsoft’s website, other websites may have them, such as at C|Net, the Internet Archive for Smart Computing (3rd column), Computer Hope, and ActiveWin.com. These five links are to URLs as accessed April 11, 2020.
Thank you and best wishes.
