In less than ten days Windows XP will no longer be an option when purchasing most computers, despite the fact that over 208,000 people requested that the XP deadline be extended even longer. It’s time to move on people, or is it?
After the deadline manufacturer’s will only be able to offer XP on machines that are taking advantage of Vista’s downgrade rights. That means the customer will have to purchase a machine with either Vista Business or Ultimate, and then they will get a copy of Windows XP Professional as well. You’ll likely have to pay a surcharge to get a copy of XP Pro from the manufacturer, and to comply with Microsoft’s regulations XP Home is not an option.
Dell has already begun preparing their line of business and consumer machines to offer the downgrade service as an option. Above is a screenshot of what you’ll see when selecting an operating system on your new Dell computer, but you may not see it if you’re hunting around for a consumer computer. For consumers Dell is limiting this option to their gaming machines only, which means it is only available on the XPS 630 and XPS 720 H2C desktops and the XPS M1730 laptop. The Vista/XP Pro bundle is free from Dell until July 7th.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the end, but we already know for sure that low-cost desktops and notebooks can continue to use XP for several more years. Looking around at the other manufacturers it looks as though most aren’t even offering XP anymore, which makes you wonder whether XP has truly reached the end of its life?
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Tags: Software, Windows, Computers, Cost, Dell, Microsoft, Windows Vista, Windows XP
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According to http://www.microsoft.com/windo.....fault.mspx
OS Availability:
Windows XP:
7.5 years after RTM (Direct OEM and Retail)
8 years after RTM (System Builders)
1.5 years after Windows Vista RTM (Direct OEM and Retail)
2 years after Windows Vista RTM (System Builders)
~ 1.5 years before Windows 7 assuming it RTMs in late 2009/2010 beginning (Direct OEM and Retail)
Windows 2000:
4 years after RTM (Direct OEM and Retail)
5 years after RTM (System Builders)
2.5 years after Windows XP RTM (Direct OEM and Retail)
3.5 years after Windows XP RTM (System Builders)
2.5 years before Windows Vista RTM (Direct OEM and Retail)
Windows Me:
3 years after RTM (Direct OEM and Retail)
3.5 years after RTM (System Builders)
2 years after Windows XP RTM (Direct OEM and Retail)
2.5 years after Windows XP RTM (System Builders)
3 years before Windows Vista RTM (Direct OEM and Retail)
Windows 98:
4 years after RTM (Direct OEM and Retail)
5 years after RTM (System Builders)
1.5 years after Windows Me RTM (Direct OEM and Retail)
3.5 years after Windows Me RTM (System Builders)
Available 6 months after Windows XP RTM (Direct OEM and Retail)
Windows NT 4.0:
6 years after RTM (Direct OEM and Retail)
7 years after RTM (System Builders)
2 years after Windows Me RTM (Direct OEM and Retail)
3 years after Windows Me RTM (System Builders)
Available 6 months after Windows XP RTM (Direct OEM and Retail)
Windows 95:
5 years after RTM (Direct OEM and Retail)
6 years after RTM (System Builders)
2.5 years after Windows 98 RTM (Direct OEM and Retail)
3.5 years after Windows 98 RTM (System Builders)
Available till Windows Me RTM (Direct OEM and Retail)
Should it be Jan and June 2010 so it’ll also automatically be available till Windows 7 arrives?
Btw http://www.microsoft.com/windo.....packs.mspx mentions “To be determined” for future service packs.
So probably if people keep on using XP later than 2010, MS will produce another SP. 
While I applaud the petition that was setup to keep XP available, I am very disappointed (to say the least) in infoworld, who hosts the petition. Since I gave them my email address, I keep being spammed on the address and there is no way to turn it off (I’ve tried several times through the link they give in the email). I have blocked them now, but that really shouldn’t be necessary.
That’s a really interesting list you put together there. Judging from that I would say that it should be available a little longer still, but there was also an unexpected large gap between the release of XP and Vista. So I think that’s what Microsoft is trying to make up for.
If there is another Service Pack I’m sure it will just be a culmination of updates that are released for it.
That is really disappointing to hear. And they got over 200,000 email addresses they can now spam.
Well you will be missed
I’ve just installed my first Windows XP in my computer after so long using Windows 2000. Lol.
Windows 2000 was actually a fantastic operating system. I used it for quite awhile myself.