October 4th, 2008
Microsoft Gives Windows XP Extra Life
By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews
Microsoft has caved in to OEMs again.
You probably know that the “Downgrade Rights” policy available to OEMs allows them to supply a Windows XP system image CD along with the computer, if you buy either Windows Vista Business or Windows Vista Ultimate. Some, such as Dell, will even “pre-downgrade” your system before shipping, saving you the manual labor. This was scheduled to disappear as of January 31st, 2009. But Microsoft has bowed to pressure, and now says the policy will continue until July 31st of 2009.
In an emailed statement, Microsoft said:
“As more customers make the move to Windows Vista, we want to make sure that they are making that transition with confidence and that it is as smooth as possible. Providing downgrade media for a few more months is part of that commitment, as is the Windows Vista Small Business Assurance program, which provides one-on-one, customized support for our small-business customers.”
And they said it with a smile, albeit forced, right?
However, the Jan. 31st date as the last day for system builder to be able to purchase Windows XP licenses to install on the machines they assemble still exists. It has not changed, Microsoft added.
Windows XP followed Bill Gates into semi-retirement at the end of June. Sice then only installs on netops and netbooks, those for companies with Volume License Agreements, and the “Downgrade Rights” policy — along with pre-existing stock of retail copies of Windows XP — have allowed Windows XP to continue “to live.”
With the extension, however, Microsoft finds itself in a strange position. With the possible exception of just a few months, it is continue to sell a predecessor to their current OS nearly until the time their newer OS (Windows 7) launches.
This might even allow companies to completely skip Windows Vista, something Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said might be the “natural course” of upgrades. At a conference before France’s CIGREF on Thursday, he noted that, and even made (perhaps?) a Freudian slip.
The one thing I am not saying to people they should do is run out and upgrade all of their old PCs today, because I think there’s more of a natural flow. If you’re prepared to do it, you should do it — I would say you should get ready to do it with XP – or sorry, with Vista, but then depending on the timing you might wait for Windows 7.
Geo8rge says:
If the softies were smart they would sell the machines duel boot.
October 4th, 2008 at 2:58 am
TheOtherRick says:
I, for one, am going to continue using XPPro until ‘they pry it from my cold, dead hands.’ I believe they FINALLY got the program right and immediately tried to take it away. I was using Win98 for 3 years into the XP tenure so why can’t they handle this transition the same way? (which they have sort of done involuntarily) Even if I can’t get onto the net anymore I’ll stick with XP.
October 4th, 2008 at 5:55 am
Micro$ux Blows Chunks! says:
Vista - an “Operating System” waiting for an excuse to be needed (other that M$’s bottom line)!!!!!!!
After how many months of availability, there is still NO NEED to buy/use this kluge of a resource hog!
What a piece of junk!
October 4th, 2008 at 10:18 am
Tom says:
95 - Good
98 - Much better
ME - Sucks
2000 - Good
XP - Much better
Vista - Sucks
Anybody see a pattern here?
October 4th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
steve says:
Theres no need to wait for Windows 7, a repackaged vista. Do yourself a favor, upgrade to Ubuntu or Debian instead.
October 4th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
LZW says:
I tried Linux and BSD but liked BSD more… Ultimately, I went back to XP! My version of Linux was SuSe and one day my whole download folder just disappeared! A Linux guru from an online forum helped me recover it but by then, most of the downloads were corrupt… The NTFS file system in XP seems very reliable.
My opinion of Vista was that it’s a highly disorganized version of XP with a new skin or color scheme… None of the control panel stuff is in the right place or any thing!
The person who said Windows ME sucks is right on! I hated that version of windows… People who buy new computers with Vista preloaded seem to like it OK (except for those who ‘downgrade to XP’ but I hated it on my old computer that only has 1gb of ram. I heard the reason Vista uses so much memory is because of all the DRM features built into it…
October 4th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Hey Corliss! says:
You can sign your name as LZW, but you can’t disguise your writing style of idiotic opinions!!!
As Dirty Harry said: A**holes are like opinions, everybody’s got one… in your case Corliss, you must have more than one, as you see fit to push your uninformed opinion on every topic, whether you know anything about it or not!!!! Please do the intelligent public a favor & shut up!!! What a dildo!!!!
Based upon your comments (on everything), I assume your Mommy doesn’t monitor your internet access (and she should!) near enough!!!
Please do us all a favor & shut up!!!
October 4th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
pligg.com says:
» Microsoft Gives Windows XP Extra Life » Blog Archive …
Microsoft extends life of XP from 31 Jan 2009 to 31 Jul 2009, and it increasingly looks like customers will stick with XP and skip Vista altogether, and probably look at transiting away from XP (if at all) when Windows 7 comes along….
October 6th, 2008 at 1:30 am
anon says:
Hey Cor@l’sASSlice! Lay off the coke.
October 6th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
81lcd says:
liquid crystal materials
October 8th, 2008 at 11:44 pm