Windows users may have heard of the existence of Windows Millennium Edition or Windows ME. The computer operating system was released by Microsoft 20 years ago, on September 14, 2000 to be precise. Windows ME was created as the successor to Windows 98. However, the success of Windows 98 or the previous version of Windows 95, did not decline to Windows ME. The reason is, Windows ME is touted as the worst Windows so far. It’s so bad that Microsoft users joke that ME stands for “Mistake Edition”.
Windows ME is intended for home computer users. This operating system supports several applications such as Internet Explorer 5.5, Windows Media Player 7, and Windows Movie Maker software. Microsoft also presents Windows Explorer in Windows ME after previously being intended for business operating systems. Windows ME entered the Windows 9x series. But with restrictions to access real mode DOS (disk operating system) to improve system performance.
Many problems
Predicate as an operating system fail to pin on Windows ME because this OS is plagued with many problems. So many, Windows ME to popularize the term “Blue Screen of Death” (BSOD) aka blue screen containing error messages that appear when the OS crashes so that the computer has to restart.
BSOD has actually been around since the days of Windows 95 and 98, but more often it appears in Windows ME which is reported to be difficult to install onto a computer. Even though it is installed, the road is unstable and problems often arise. There are devices or computer components that crash and won’t work. Even the experimentation of installing new peripherals can be a headache.
Edward Mendelson from PC Magazine briefly raised this problem in his review of Windows ME, on September 1, 2000. When the upgrade to Windows ME was complete, the system ran smoothly for a few hours but then became unstable, Mendelson wrote.
Even the System Restore wizard is useless and crashes when tried, he added. Despite being called the worst Windows, Windows observer Paul Thurrott said that Windows ME actually also inherits a number of new features that continue to be carried over to the next version of Windows.
Thurrott, among others, exemplifies the System Restore feature to restore the state of the computer to an earlier time before it was down, automatic updates, and hibernation mode are all passed on to the successor OS. In fact, this release is amazing, especially given its technological legacy. Get rid of your prejudices and give Windows Me a chance,” said Thurrot .
Ejected by Windows XP
Windows ME’s work was short-lived. Only a year after its arrival, Microsoft released a new, better operating system, namely Windows XP, on October 25, 2001. After Windows XP came, Microsoft still provided support for Windows ME, but that support was discontinued on July 11, 2006.
Microsoft seems to be. pay no special attention to Windows ME. Perhaps because it is seen as merely acting as a stopgap, a product that is simply on the market so that Microsoft can finish working on Windows XP. Like a cure for a disease caused by Windows ME, Windows XP, codenamed “Whistler”, relieves the suffering of users. Windows XP received a positive response at that time.
Later, XP (from the word “eXPerience”) became the most popular Windows in the world, and is said to be the best version of Windows of all time. Many users are still using Windows XP even after a decade of release.
Even now, 18 years after it was first released, data on the operating system market share from research firm NetMarketShare says that 1.26 percent of computers worldwide are still running Windows XP. This figure is higher than Windows 8 (0.57 percent) or Windows Vista (0.12 percent) which is younger. Meanwhile, the traces of Windows ME have disappeared without a trace.