On win98 os.path.expanuser('~') does not result in a useable directory.
The MSDN recommendation for user specific directories is the use of
shell.ShGetSpecialFolder, so use it.
For details see:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/shellcc/platform/shell/reference/functions/shgetspecialfolderpath.asp