Tony De Silva wrote:

I have several clients who are asking about purchasing Windows 98.  I would
like the consensus of the group as to what personal  experiences good,bad
and indifferent that they have had

Tony,
I've been using Win98 and the stability is pretty incredible for a Microsoft
product.  It's more than just an upgrade to Win95 as there's more
below-the-hood tweaks and enhancements that makes the compting experience
more enjoyable and reliable.  The new bells & whistles (USB, native DVD
support, multiple video displays, power management, FAT 32 conversion etc)
all work.

I did an 'upgrade' install over my Win95OSR2 and FAT 16 and it went
flawlessly.  All it took was 37 minutes and it kept all my original
settings.  Fat32 conversion took under 5 minutes and reclaimed 171MB of HDD
space.  Apart from some minor, and I mean really minor, troubleshooting all
went well.

The built-in trouble shooting components are intuitive and easy to use and
really work.  For example, its able to restore your system after you've
changed or deleted system files and prompts you for the Win98 CD and find
the right path and folder automatically.  Another feature is an updated
Defragmenter which incorporates Intel technology that rearranges your most
frequently used programs to launch faster.  Takes MUCH longer than your
average defrag but worth the effort.

Of course, if you are an IE4 user, the version in Win98 is the absolute
latest, tight integration with the OS, and works very well.  Also all your
old IE settings are mainted.  My extensive Favorites, settings etc were all
maintained and worked without a glance back.

Another cool feature is the Update Wizard which connects you with the MS
website, scans your system and tells you what updates, patches, drivers etc
you need and are available.  You know what?  It works, too.  Kinda gives
programs like Oil Change and TuneUp a run!!

All in all, very stable, more bug-free than Win95 was when it first came
out.  Very extensive driver support, new enhancements, improved speed and
responsiveness.  Try the Consumer Beta Preview, its an older build than
currently available but very stable and gives you a good personal idea of
what its all about.  Currently, RC0 is in circulation for testing and from
what I can see its rock solid stable, which means well for the final
shipping product.

Hope this helps,
Richard Tan