That's been happening ever since Windows ME came out which was summer
of 2000. Of course, Windows 98 by itself was still sold in retail
stores up to June 30, 2002. After that date, MS stopped supplying
retail stores with the OS which meant that only the remaining copies
in stock was what you'd see in retail stores. After June 30, 2003, it
seems that Microsoft will now offer only paid support for Windows 98
but you can still get all the free support online and existing fixes
for win98 will continue to remain available for download just as is
the case for Windows 95. You meant to say that Microsoft will not
provide any new updates or fixes starting this summer. Since nearly
every new PC comes with Windows XP installed, you'll have to try
places like ebay.com to buy yourself a used copy of Windows 98 if you
don't have it already.