Windows XP Lives! Again!
By Harry McCracken | Sunday, December 21, 2008 at 11:06 am
Windows XP was theoretically replaced by Windows Vista almost two years ago now. But many, many people still prefer to buy computers loaded with XP than with Vista. That’s surely not a reality that Microsoft is very happy with, but it’s one that it has to deal with. And so the company keeps giving XP brief new leases on life, to the point where many users will be able to segue directly from XP to Windows 7 and pretend that Vista never existed.
ChannelWeb is reporting that system builders–the companies that make “white box” PCs that aren’t marketed like ones from the big guys–will be able to get their hands on copies of XP through May 30th; the cut-off date had previously been January 31st. ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley notes that the deadline for netbooks (which Microsoft likes to call Ultra Low-Cost PCs, or ULPCs) still seems to be June 30th, 2010.
The deadline for major manufacturers was June 30th of this year. Which hasn’t stopped them from using various workarounds to continue to give customers the operating system they want.
I’m glad that there are still quiet, convoluted options for people who want XP to get it. But wouldn’t it have been cool if Microsoft had taken the opportunity to openly reconsider XP’s fate and simply extend sales for all comers? Wouldn’t it have gotten the company tons of favorable publicity? Doesn’t it make sense, as a rule, to give your customers what they say they want from you if you possibly can?
Years ago, Corel had an interesting sales strategy with its CorelDraw package. It kept two or three versions on the market at a time, with earlier editions available at a discount from the newest one’s price. It would have been interesting to see Microsoft pursue an interesting approach. Even if it were XP, rather than Vista, that some people would have been willing to pay a premium for…
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SharePoint Daily for December 22, 2008 - SharePoint Daily - Bamboo Nation Says:
December 22nd, 2008 at 6:15 am[…] Windows XP Lives! Again! (Technologizer)Windows XP was theoretically replaced by Windows Vista almost two years ago now. But many, many people still prefer to buy computers loaded with XP than with Vista. That’s surely not a reality that Microsoft is very happy with, but it’s one that it has to deal with. And so the company keeps giving XP brief new leases on life, to the point where many users will be able to segue directly from XP to Windows 7 and pretend that Vista never existed. […]
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The Five Lives (So Far) of Windows XP | Technologizer Says:
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:15 pm[…] the latest news about Windows XP getting an unexpected stay of execution, I took a moment to look back at past stories about Microsoft extending the period that folks can […]
December 21st, 2008 at 11:27 am
Hey, I tried to buy Windows XP Home at Fry’s yesterday and couldn’t. But at OfficeMax, no problem. They had at least the two copies in stock that I bought. Needed Windows to run under Bootcamp on new iMacs and Vista wasn’t going to spoil my shiny Macs
December 21st, 2008 at 11:40 am
Vista is such a turd that when you dump it on a computer, the whole room stinks up.
December 21st, 2008 at 11:46 am
Harry, your idea would be smart for MSFT. Like how Coke turned the New Coke debacle into a win. But I think MSFT spent too many years, too many bucks on Vista to admit the problem.
December 21st, 2008 at 11:58 am
Why would you want to buy yesterday’s (read: 5 years ago) technology? (except maybe for a very underpowered computer). From my own experience, Vista is much nicer than XP.
December 21st, 2008 at 12:35 pm
XP is dying- it’s ancient technology, Vista is far superior. Of course, Ubuntu and OSX are both worthy competitors to MS, but Vista is rock solid in both terms of stability and security.
The only reason why Microsoft would rather sell Vista than XP on new computers is because the longer they sell XP, the longer they will have to support it. The more updates, service packs, and the longer they have to make software that is backwards compatible with it, rather than focusing on new technologies in Vista/Windows 7. They make as much money off a sale of XP as they do Vista, but XP costs more to maintain.
If Windows developers aren’t writing code for Vista, it won’t magically work on Windows 7, so if your software is XP only, its time to find a new supplier!
December 21st, 2008 at 4:40 pm
Every one who loves XP should thank UBUNTU and various other flavours of linux. If it wasn’t for Ubuntu being sold first on Dell systems then on numerous other computers and other Linux distros XP wouldn’t still be here. Microsoft did not want to give up the whole netbook market to Ubuntu GNU/LINUX! Go on and try it, you’ll love it, if you don’t like Ubuntu then try PCLinuxOS!
December 21st, 2008 at 5:00 pm
James: XP is ancient technology? How do you figure that? Do you have the XP source code or something? Or do you mean you have gotten board with the color scheme of XP and that it now seems old? Most non-programmers are far too easily sold on a thin veneer of new graphics thrown on an OS as being “new technology”. Although a lot of people I know these days seem to be dumping the entire Windows line in favor of Linux or Mac.
December 21st, 2008 at 8:44 pm
Vista is a poorly designed, resource hogging, piece of trash.
For pro audio work, i.e. serious audio and MIDI recording, it underperforms XP and doesn’t have stable drivers for many audio and MIDI interfaces, unlike XP and Mac OSX. Vista might be OK for boneheads who like to play Call Of Duty on their PC. Otherwise, it sucks. Bill Gates himself doesn’t like it and no wonder they are quickly trying to move on. The worst MS o/s since the aborted fetus that was Win ME.
December 21st, 2008 at 11:09 pm
Xp and ubuntu are far better choices than vista. Xp has a sp3, which makes it almost as updated as vista, without getting all of the pc resources. just put some vista-like or some other theme on xp, and that’s it! a nice-looking os. vista is expensive, needs a powerful (it means expensive) computer.
PD: thank God I use Ubuntu!
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:04 am
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December 22nd, 2008 at 12:24 am
You people are going to have to get used to Vista. Vista is the new operating system, so Microsoft is going to base future versions of Windows on it, which means that, whether you like it or not, your going to have to deal with it and stop complaining. If your having problems with Vista, it’s most likely the vendor’s fault, not Microsoft’s.
December 22nd, 2008 at 5:59 am
Vista seems to have some very basic failings that don’t exist in XP.
I keep hitting significant network related issues on my Vista laptop that I don’t get on any of my XP machines.
Until MS sorts this out, there is zero chance of me upgrading the rest of my PCs.
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:22 am
Are you guys that thickheaded! Windows Vista is fine. Why do you want 5 year old technology. Sure, complain about how all your damn stuff doesn’t work on Vista but hey do you ever stop and think that it’s actually your device manufacter’s problem. To all you who say Vista is such a dump, that’s what you get for trying to run it on your 256 MB old system.
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:53 am
I like XP but Vista is fine and has given me major problems. It’s a matter of getting used to the new OS and you can’t really compare both afterall XP has been around for so long with lots of updates and patches.
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:01 am
Windows Vista made me buy a Macbook 🙂
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:30 pm
My personal experience:
Had Vista for 6 month on my new quad core Dell. Finally had enough – it is just too slow and would not let me use my machine to the full capability.
Besides it is really annoying – keeps trying to hide things from me, etc, etc.
So finally had enough and went back to XP two weeks ago. My machine flies now, at least 30% faster than before if not more…
I think MS really missed the boat with Vista.
Just my 2c.
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:10 pm
I told my friend about Ubuntu several months ago. He uses it, and he’s persuaded two others to use it.
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Oh and maybe if Vista weren’t so shoddy, people wouldn’t still be clamoring for XP.
December 24th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
I tried vista and it looked alright to start, then……..bang!
I found I couldn’t get onto the web with my supanet modem so I packed my bags and formatted the drive and reinstalled xp.Aaaaaaaaah!f….it.
Why does he keep changing the bloody os!Wireless,forget it I TRIED IT FROM DEAR OLD SUPANET,paid for a brand new wireless modem, and it still didn’t get me on the web.Aaaaaaaaaaaah.XP IT IS AND XP IT’S GOING TO BLOODY WELL STAY………BILL GATES!