Windows XP gets a five-month retail stay of execution

I don't think this move has much to do with Vista backlash, but Microsoft is allowing OEMs to pre-install Windows XP on retail computers five months longer than originally planned. As of the end of this coming January, PCs were to have a Vista license, but you'll see new XP computers available at least through the end of June 2008. XP licenses will continue to be available through that time, which should help folks on older PCs still running Windows 95 or 98.

Due to driver challenges and more robust system requirements for Vista, I think this is a good move. There's a large number of consumers that consider their computer a multi-year investment. Chances are: if that computer is more than a year or two old, it might not be up to speed for a positive Vista experience. Now's probably a good time to point out that Vista still runs very well on my Samsung Q1P UMPC, although I have upgraded the RAM to 2 GB. Vista SP1 shows no noticeable performance differences, but to be honest, I had relatively few issues to begin with.

Comments

[UKguy]

As far as I'm reading embedded XP system developers at OEM level involved in industrial control systems built on XP are talking 5-10 years return on investment this could see XP with support until 2018. Theres life in the old dog yet!!

Quote"PC technology has been adopted widely across the industrial automation marketplace for its lower cost and ease of use, and Microsoft’s Operating Systems have inevitably formed a part of that. Functions such as data analysis and system visualisation for GUIs have become easier using standard Microsoft tools and operating systems. However, 5-10 year ROI and support plans for industrial technology, where systems are built for a set purpose don’t sit well with the drive to increase performance and the support of new technologies prevalent in the desktop PC marketplace.

[Mike Cane]

I think EVERY hardware vendor wants what their CUSTOMERS are asking for: XP XP XP.

If MS was smart, they'd get cracking on my idea for "Windows Express."

Probably too late for them.

MS: The New Palm!

[Tate J.]

Kevin, I'm with you. I have Windows Vista Ultimate running on a Motion M1400 with 2 gigs of ram. It works just fine. It wakes up from sleep mode in about 8 seconds. Hibernation takes about 15 seconds to wake up from. The only thing that Vista won't let me do is author dvds. That's just fine with me. I don't use it as a desktop replacement. Its a mobile computer. It does MS Office, OneNote, Web browsing and email with out a glitch. I've even done some light photo editing while out on location.

So far, I like Vista on a mobile