XP's drop-dead date comes one year after Vista launch

Microsoft will phase out Windows XP as an installation option for brand-name computer makers faster than it has any other operating system, but an analyst says it probably wasn't a decision made to pump up Vista revenues at XP's expense.

According to Microsoft's posted timetable, the company will stop licensing Windows XP to OEMs and terminate retail sales of the operating system on January 31, 2008. The time between the general availability of XP's successor, Windows Vista, and that drop-dead date is just 12 months.

By comparison, Windows 95 was terminated 30 months after Windows 98's debut, which in turn had an 18-month run of availability after the release of its heir, Windows Millennium. On the business side, Windows NT Workstation 4.0 was available to OEMs for 26 months after Windows 2000 Professional appeared; that OS lived 27 months on the OEM list after Windows XP Professional made it to market.


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glad i no longer rely on M$, why can't they make something and stick with it.

M$ can't make their :swear:ing mind up

 

I still run XP, but after I switch to a Mac I won't use any M$ apps.

M$ not only produces crap software, but they make you poor as well. Just imagine, Windoze users need to switch to Vista. If you look at the system requirements, you'll need a big gaming rig just to run the OS.

 

does this mean that if i dont upgrade to vista after the drop date, MS wont be issusing updates for xp anymore?

 

exactly[ot]but i guess updates will be available, well unofficial updates[/ot]yes, M$ does have hold of you by the short & curlies, but i'm on linux

 

well thats just great!:dry:

 

That's not cool.

 

No Dave, it means you will not be able to buy XP licence anymore but the product support will still remains for somtime...

 

I think that many people will switch to linux or a mac in the coming years...:good:

 

Machah:...U still needs to pay for it.. So i guess Linux will be the correct one to go with :good:

 

Mac OS costs €129 and it is much better than Vista (costing about €350). But linux is indeed a good alternative. And Mac users aren't forced to upgrade to a new version.

 

But Apple still holds those rights...I mean they can still force hah: Also you need special PC to run Mac, which is again enforcing users to buy their own pcs only...

 

Yeah Karan, that's true. I think that Mac OS might even be worse than Windows if it is installed on a regular pc (it needs to support all those non-Apple hardware).

 

sorry, guess i was being pessimistic as usual

good, i'm already on linux

i've never used a Mac[ot]think i fixed one once[/ot]