Actually I used vmware a few years back before I switched to using win4lin/win98. I do not want to go through the headache of reinstalling yet again another windoze and apps again. I use Linux so as to avoid all the reinstalling every year or so. What "core XP processes" do these new versions of apps need for their core functionality that they cannot get in win98. Older versions of the same software apps function fine in win98. It seems to me that the newer apps have been compiled with XP libraries/dll's requirements and could as easily have been made to work with win98 libraries/dlls. And as for serious development work, my command line compiler runs fine under win4lin/win98. It is just that when I want to use a newer version of an app for some extra features, it wants XP/2K and refuses to install under win98. Case in point is the MS VisualC++ Toolkit 2003. It is just a non-gui command line compiler, but it wants 2K/XP. I can understand that M$ wants us to all upgrade to their latest version of windoze. But why other software companies like compuware have this same requirement. Do they really need these extra "core XP processes" that are unavailable under win98, or like M$ they make their latest software dependent on the lates windoze for a reason .i.e to persuade us to upgrade more often and keep their pockets full ?!!