Random Facts #98 · 10:22pm May 21st, 2017
Windows 98 was famously known for bundling Internet Explorer 4.0 and its "desktop update" package, which essentially overhauled the UI of computers running it, much to the expense of the user in certain cases.
Windows 98 was a 16/32 bit hybrid kernel, meaning that at the maximum, up to four gigs of RAM were usable, but only through patches, due to a lack of proper support for over one gigabyte of RAM.
Windows 98 is also known for being an early iteration of Microsoft's bad/good OS update cycle, with the following: Windows 95 good, Windows 98 bad, Windows 98 SE good, Windows ME bad, Windows XP good, Windows Vista bad, Windows 7 good, Windows 8 bad. Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 broke the cycle, with the former still being rather poorly received, as well as technically being a service pack, while Windows 10, as Microsoft states it, is the "last version of Windows".
Windows 98 was the first version of Windows to natively support USB.
Bill Gates famously demonstrated Windows 98's plug&play capabilities with a scanner, which resulted with a BSOD, much to the audience's amusement.
