14 DAY TRIAL // Say what you want about the Windows releases of the past millennium, but they are veritable survivors. Not only this, but the operating systems are stretched to new limits. Once fully fledged desktop platforms, they have been rendered to nothing more than toys by the continuous evolution of hardware in accordance with Moore's law. Ten years ago users needed a desktop PC to run either Windows 3.1 or Windows 98; today both operating systems are capable of running comfortably on a mobile phone. In this regard, Windows 98 has followed Windows 3.1 to new limits and was installed on a Nokia N95 handset, as you can see from the screenshots included with this article, courtesy of Daily Mobile.
According to Microsoft, “the following list describes the minimum hardware requirements for Windows 98: a 486DX 66 megahertz (MHz) or faster processor (Pentium central processing unit recommended); 16 megabytes (MB) of memory (24 MB recommended); a full install of Windows 98 on a FAT16 drive requires 225 MB of free hard disk space, but may range from between 165 MB and 355 MB, depending on your computer configuration and that options that you choose to install. A full install of Windows 98 on a FAT32 drive requires 175 MB of free hard disk space, but may range from between 140 MB and 255 MB, depending on your computer configuration and the options that you choose to install. One 3.5-inch high-density floppy disk drive. VGA or higher resolution (16-bit or 24-bit color SVGA recommended).”
In this context, the Nokia N95 smartphone has more than sufficient horsepower to satisfy the hardware requirements of Windows 98. This is an operating system for which Microsoft continued to offer support until just a couple of years back. The Redmond company did not end extended support for Windows 98 until July 11, 2006. At that time, the software giant cut off support for Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Me.
