I would like to purchase Ultimate Traffic but have not done so because of the "caution" that it may not work with WIN98 which I have on my system. Could anyone out there please let me know if you have actually experienced a problem with UT and WIN98 compatability and what problem you experienced. Thanks. GLB@RIC

The warning about incompatibility should be heeded. Win98 is a 16 bit O/S and does not utilize the same hardware layer control that Win2k and XP do in addition to them being 32 bit systems. UT was designed to interface with a 32 bit system and while it MAY work with Win98, I am sure the developers do not want to get entangled with issues about compatibility for an operating system they did not design for. The negatives for Win98 are immense and considering the maturity of Win2k and XP, the older operating system simply is not regarded in today's program development, be it something for simming or for most other uses. Certain legacy programs exist, but there is very little support for them. UT, I am sure, does not want to try to provide legacy support, thus their warning about incompatibility. If you look at the minimum system requirements, remember these are MINIMUMS and generally require more substantial systems in order to perform as most people want. That said, if your system is MINIMALLY compatible, it should certainly support XP making an upgrade to the 32 bit O/S a good thing to do, not only for modern program compatibility, but for the extra security benefits you can derive from its use.

Win 98 is a 32 bit O/S--Win 3.x was a 16 bit O/S. Although everything else you mention is pretty accurate, I did want to correct that statement.I still develop for Win98 and I support all three OS's--and Winnt--and none of my apps coded for Win98 have failed under any of those O/S's. But once you code on an XP box or Win2000, and exploit API features peculiar to those O/S's, or expect memory management features inherent to XP or 2000 (such as access to >512Megs of RAM), then you may lose compatibility with the older O/S.I am also sorry to say that many newer development tools may only allow coding under newer OS's as well--an issue I face in my shop for the business apps we code. More than 99 pct. of our systems run Win 2000, but some of our execs won't leave Win98 (I'd like to think it's because my team does a great job keeping it pristine, but more likely it is because they are "stuck" in their ways--and they pay the bills).I am confident enough in my own system, that I have bought many applications despite Win 98 compatibility warnings--provided the verbiage says "may" not work vs. "will not work." "Will Not" I always assume falls into the category of exploiting API features peculiar to those O/S's. "May Not" usually means if your system is less than pristine--such as mismatched system dll's (a common problem before Win 2000), then likely the app will fail. I bought Flight1's 441 for my gaming system, which has Win 98. I'd love to switch it to XP, but until someone offers a cheap replacement for my oversized ISA scanner, I'll use it until it dies....Win98 was a much maligned system, but also proved one of the most stable of systems I had ever supported.... But I and my team avoided the "Garbage In" failures that 98 was prone to having and only installed packages that didn't mess with Windows core components in unknown ways. We do have one Win98 system--an interface to our PBX, that has been online for 18 months without a reboot--our last power failure. I didn't want Windows 98 on it, but our vendor said his product wouldn't work under Win 2000....oh, how times have changed :)-John

I am using UT2 for FS9 with W98SE without any problems regarding AI flight plan generation. I have the VCACHE "cheat" installed that allows me to use a physical ram of 766.I think the issue of W98 compatibility pertains to the amount of resources sucked up by the addition of large amounts of AI traffic in residence in your flight/taxi/parking areas. If you keep your traffic levels reasonable, your difficulties should be minimal such as occasional stuttering and FPS restrictions. This is a combination of AI percent, scenery complexity/detail/cloud settings, processor speed, and other typical resource issues.That being stated, there are a few differences between W98 and W98SE, so my experience is with the latter. Some of the operating system timing loops are designed differently in 98SE to acommodate faster processors especially those regarding networking and communications.It should also be noted that some of W98SE is 16 bit code, but most I believe is 32 bit including the capacity to handle larger hard disk capacities with efficiency.I use a 2.53 GHz processor with 766 MB ram, 80 GB hard disks, Ti4200 video. Weather and Radar Contact are running along with FS.