Is Microsoft planning another release of Windows 98 based on the 9x kernel? Maybe, maybe not. I can’t deny that that might happen, says Microsoft spokesperson Bill Zolna cagily. The reason he won’t deny it is that Microsoft has always said it will continue to provide new operating system enhancements for existing 9x users, and to deliver those enhancements in a way that is convenient to users, he explains. None of this speculation changes the fact that the Redmond software giant is planning its next major consumer OS to be based on the NT kernel, Zolna maintains. That’s not to say that they won’t release smaller updates based on the 9x kernel, he says, nothing is ever black and white. So if new operating system features become available before NT 5, Microsoft will ship them on the 9x kernel rather than keep consumers waiting. Of course, if the schedule for NT 5/Windows 2000 – which has been facetiously dubbed Windows 1901 – slips even further than it has already done, this refusal to take a hard line position on 9x gives Microsoft a convenient fallback.
