As with all Microsoft products, you don't want to get the
newest edition of Windows. Using the first release of MS products is participating in the public beta testing.

When XP is patched a hundred times and the
next Version is about to come out it will probably be safe to acquire and install XP. And by then lots of third-party software will be using 'special' features not available in Win98, too, so Win98 will be truly obsolete.
So I have learned that migration to the second generation just as it becomes the second generation is the best strategy. I call it 'live on the trailing edge' as opposed to 'live on the bleeding edge'.
