Windows XP (Sort Of) Says Goodbye
June 30, 2008 | by Geoff Duncan
Today Microsoft officially stops selling Windows XP...but customers will be able to downgrade from Vista, and support will be available through 2014.
Today marks a symbolic milestone in the life span of Microsoft's Windows XP operating system: June 30 marks the last official day Microsoft is offering Windows XP for sale. In theory, once computers with XP pre-installed on their hard drives clear out of inventory, it will no longer be possible to buy a new PC with Windows XP as the default operating system. Instead, users will have to buy a PC with some flavor of Windows Vista pre-installed…although this doesn't actually mean the end of the six year-old Windows XP. Not by a long shot. Microsoft is still permitting small PC builders to bundle XP with their systems through the end of January 2009; Microsoft will also continue offering a version of Windows XP for low-end, ultra low-cost PCs like the Asus Eee and the OLPC XO. And, folks who want a spiffy new computer running Windows XP, users will be able to legally downgrade a license for Windows Vista Business or Windows Vista Ultimate to Windows XP…although some manufacturers are likely to tack an additional fee onto the price if users want the system pre-installed. And Windows XP will be on Microsoft's product radar for many years to come: last week, Microsoft announced it will continue support Windows XP through 2014. Windows Vista hasn't been a fabulous success with Microsoft: although many concede the operating system has a number of useful new features and a lot of glitz, persistent driver and compatibility problems combined with high system requirements have slowed adoption in many sectors of the Windows market—so much so, that petitions to "save" Windows XP have been going around for many months, pleading with Microsoft to continue selling Windows XP until its next Windows operating system, currently dubbed "Windows 7," is available. Microsoft says it plans to release Windows 7 sometime in 2009.
Post Your Comment...Comments
James on Jun 30th, 2008 at 1:28 PM:
I think it's B.S how Microsoft is forcing people to buy Vista.
Mark on Jul 1st, 2008 at 2:41 AM:
I regret that I did not remove XP when i bought my new laptop 1.5 years ago. I absolutely hate the slow performance and the location of everything.
I don't know why Microsoft did this. They were doing constant updates and improvements to XP and I think the world has been pretty satisfied with it. I understand that the conservative Germans are very much againt Vista.
Monopolies are never good. What a shame that Microsoft rules the world and doesn't make market studies to see what a broad spectrum the business and individual public thinks about a future product.
I am very disappointed in Vista and wish it had never been invented.
mike on Jul 7th, 2008 at 8:36 AM:
Vista itself has been a mixed bag; it's Service Pack 1 that is the real disaster. it tried to eat my computer; i finally managed to uninstall it and return to the restore point before the installation. i've done away with many microsoft products; my next computer will run on linux.
Darren on Jul 8th, 2008 at 12:00 AM:
I can't stand Windows Vista, I have XP on all my computers but I also do computer repair for people and one main thing I hate about Vista is the security warnings on it and there doesn't appear to be any little tick box on the security warnings to turn them off. Download something from the net - first IE warns you are you sure you want to download this, then Vista pops up and warns you that something is trying to download (yeah I told it to!), then when it's done downloading IE warns about it being unsafe and then Vista pops up again and warns me it could be unsafe, at the end of the day I've got a HND in Software Engineering I know what might damage the system and I don't need some rubbish piece of software to keep whinging at me every five seconds, I presume there is a way to turn these warnings off, if not they really should have to save fustrated PC technicians keep having to click OK about 5 times just to get the PC to do something.
Darren on Jul 8th, 2008 at 12:00 AM:
I can't stand Windows Vista, I have XP on all my computers but I also do computer repair for people and one main thing I hate about Vista is the security warnings on it and there doesn't appear to be any little tick box on the security warnings to turn them off. Download something from the net - first IE warns you are you sure you want to download this, then Vista pops up and warns you that something is trying to download (yeah I told it to!), then when it's done downloading IE warns about it being unsafe and then Vista pops up again and warns me it could be unsafe, at the end of the day I've got a HND in Software Engineering I know what might damage the system and I don't need some rubbish piece of software to keep whinging at me every five seconds, I presume there is a way to turn these warnings off, if not they really should have to save fustrated PC technicians keep having to click OK about 5 times just to get the PC to do something.
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Lochi on Jun 30th, 2008 at 12:07 PM:
When everything catches up to Vista, and they get all the bugs worked out as well as offer all peripherals Vista Ready, people will adopt it and begin to enjoy what it offers.