Windows XP to be Phased Out by Year's End

[malware]

Computer makers have been told they'll no longer be able to get Windows XP OEM by the end of this year, despite consumer resistance to Vista and its compatibility problems. By early 2008, Microsoft's contracts with computer makers will require companies to only sell Vista-loaded machines. "The OEM version of XP Professional goes next January," said Frank Luburic, senior ThinkPad product manager for Lenovo. "At that point, they'll have no choice". Despite Microsoft's constant promotion of Vista, manufacturers are still seeing plenty of demand from customers for systems preloaded with XP, especially in the SOHO market. Click here to read the full story.

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[RickyG512]

maan i still prefer xp of vista soo much, i guese hopefully vista will be better by then

 

[tkpenalty]

... Why?

 

[Zalmann]

Well, I honestly think that XP will be around for a lot longer (probably just not in sold through retail outlets), it will be supported to well past 2010 from what I read somewhere. Something about pressure from the China for MS to support XP beyond what they initially announced when Vista was introduced.

 

[spectre440]

can't say i'm surprised at all by this move by MS.
not that i approve of it (nor do i think that MS need my approval...), but i definantly can't say i'm surprised by this move...

 

[RickyG512]

i know businesses with networks wont move to vista by the end of the year

 

[Taz100420]

ummmm no it wont. I HATE Vista! until they patch it up ALOT, Im sticking to a OS that works hands down. I know ppl that still use Windows 98 and said they will never go to XP or Vista.

 

[Kreij]

I am running Vista Ultimate on my home rig. The installation and setup of Vista was far superior to any XP installation I have done, and as a MIS Manager I have done a lot.
There are a few annoyances with Vista, but I still fight with XP on a regular basis when loading machines on my work network.
I am really looking forward to moving my work network to Vista, but I doubt that will happen in the near future.
From an administrative standpoint, Vista is really nice. It does not, however, add much functionality to justify the move from XP on a corporate network.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Zalmann]

XP will still be available, just not for retail sale. You buy a PC, you can still get the OEM version of XP with it.

 

[Kreij]

IMO Microsoft is going to try to remove XP from the market as fast as possible to minimize the support structure of maintaining it and writing patches/updates.

Almost all software companies do the same thing. Upgrade or be left behind.

I cannot blame them as the cost of supporting obsoleted code is high. If people do not want to leave Win98 that is fine, just don't complain when something doesn't work.

I am not a Microsoft fanboy, but I do believe that is a solid business strategy.

 

[Conti027]

I am running Vista Ultimate on my home rig. The installation and setup of Vista was far superior to any XP installation I have done, and as a MIS Manager I have done a lot.
There are a few annoyances with Vista, but I still fight with XP on a regular basis when loading machines on my work network.
I am really looking forward to moving my work network to Vista, but I doubt that will happen in the near future.
From an administrative standpoint, Vista is really nice. It does not, however, add much functionality to justify the move from XP on a corporate network.

Just my 2 cents.

o agree i had some many more problems with XP and im fine with Vista most people that burn it never used it and they just cant take moving from one OS to the other they go crazy for some reason. i glad to hear XP is dieing

 

[anticlutch]

o agree i had some many more problems with XP and im fine with Vista most people that burn it never used it and they just cant take moving from one OS to the other they go crazy for some reason. i glad to hear XP is dieing

Contrary to your statements, I HAVE used Vista, and I absolutely HATE it. Sure, it looks nice and is supposedly more "secure", but it does all of that at the cost of system performance. Also, Vista needs special drivers whereas XP does not (namely, the ability to use Warcat driver for ATI cards). And most of the time, Vista won't let you run custom software (or even legit software that is a little bit older). Vista is the future? Vista HAS no future unless MS gets their act straight and work out all the kinks before they try to phase out XP.

 

[Darkrealms]

Unfortunatly I have used and beta'd Vista. I will agree it has some administrative advantages. But for a user or a company it is hard to support (drivers, software, hardware) and it takes so much to be able to run.

I still love 98SE stability but sadly run it on nothing anymore. Right now I won't run anything but XP Pro (microsoft made that is).

 

[DRDNA]

I bet the push to Vista is based on hollywood and DRM more than anything.You see were at a stage in the game where regular television and On Demand is poping up all over the internet and I think it is in relation to that !

 

[theonetruewill]

Importantly what are schools going to do. Hardware that would take XP is a lot less than Hardware that can take Vista. I can't see schools being able to upgrade for a long time, this isn't good news for getting kids into Vista at home. They're going to be forced to use the outdated and more and more uncommonly used XP in the future.

Selfish move by Microsoft, never thinking about the little guy. OK I understand that they want to make money but still......:shadedshu

 

[ace80]

Importantly what are schools going to do. Hardware that would take XP is a lot less than Hardware that can take Vista. I can't see schools being able to upgrade for a long time, this isn't good news for getting kids into Vista at home. They're going to be forced to use the outdated and more and more uncommonly used XP in the future.

Selfish move by Microsoft, never thinking about the little guy. OK I understand that they want to make money but still......:shadedshu

agreed, a school down the road just had its entire i.t department updated to brand new machines all running xp at quite a cost, thing is though they also got pc's running with linux aswell. My god son goes there and he's 3 and a half, learning it all already

 

[KillZone]

Windows 98 was officially supported for 10 years after XP came in so we can probably
expect a similar situation with XP. Its a great operating system and many people
will continue to use it for a long time yet.

Intel has already stated they will not even upgrade to VISTA until after the release
of the first service pack and even then it will be a slow process.

VISTA is cool and new and all that but lets face it XP gets the job done just
fine. From an IT point of view you would be foolish to upgrade office systems
to VISTA and have to deal with all the related hardware problems and driver issues.

VISTA will not become mainstream for a couple of years yet.

 

[Tatty_Two]

And Microsoft have SP3 for XP scheduled for releaase January 2008 according to the magazine I am reading here.

 

[kwchang007]

Importantly what are schools going to do. Hardware that would take XP is a lot less than Hardware that can take Vista. I can't see schools being able to upgrade for a long time, this isn't good news for getting kids into Vista at home. They're going to be forced to use the outdated and more and more uncommonly used XP in the future.

Selfish move by Microsoft, never thinking about the little guy. OK I understand that they want to make money but still......:shadedshu

it all depends on if they were brough up on vista. 95, 98, 2000, xp all work the same basically (gui wise) vista gets rid of the taskbar with vista programs (like ie7). now if you were raised on 95,98,2000, xp you can get the taskbar, vice versa? no not possible...but that's probably not for 5 years? figure that the kid learning now is 5 years old, the school doesn't get comps until they're 10 years old (still early) so by then they'll either be in the transition or they'll be at vista already.

 

[zekrahminator]

In my opinion, it's about time. I am running Windows Vista right now from a laptop designed around it, and I can honestly say that it is a pleasure. My only complaint is that it gets quite warm when not plugged in, but that's Gateway's fault for not turning on the system blower. Otherwise, everything is very stable, very smooth, very elegant, and most of all, very easy. I'll be buying Windows Vista for my other two computers as soon as I can afford it.

 

[theonetruewill]

it all depends on if they were brough up on vista. 95, 98, 2000, xp all work the same basically (gui wise) vista gets rid of the taskbar with vista programs (like ie7). now if you were raised on 95,98,2000, xp you can get the taskbar, vice versa? no not possible...but that's probably not for 5 years? figure that the kid learning now is 5 years old, the school doesn't get comps until they're 10 years old (still early) so by then they'll either be in the transition or they'll be at vista already.

I'm just saying that they're stuff is going to be out of date and god only knows (and he always does because he's cool - I've done bad things, I need to say that to go to heaven) when school are going to have enough cash to buy a whole line of new computers (from Dell:shadedshu)with "Vista capable" expensive hardware so that they can just about trundle about on Vista. C'mon guys these things are only going to have 512mb RAM probably. I bet you wouldn't want to run Vista on 512mb, my school computers (farily new) run on 512 with XP and they can run it alright, but Vista, no they're screwed. Most schools in the UK will definitely only have 256mb on their present machines and (shudder) 2-2.8Ghz P4's/celerons because they're so cheap.

 

[kwchang007]

I'm just saying that they're stuff is going to be out of date and god only knows (and he always does because he's cool - I've done bad things, I need to say that to go to heaven) when school are going to have enough cash to buy a whole line of new computers (from Dell:shadedshu)with "Vista capable" expensive hardware so that they can just about trundle about on Vista. C'mon guys these things are only going to have 512mb RAM probably. I bet you wouldn't want to run Vista on 512mb, my school computers (farily new) run on 512 with XP and they can run it alright, but Vista, no they're screwed. Most schools in the UK will definitely only have 256mb on their present machines and (shudder) 2-2.8Ghz P4's/celerons because they're so cheap.

i feel you with the whole vista on a crap comp. we have really really old comps at school and xp is a pain. i can tell you the comp is running 100% when i open ie ......taks forever. for the schools, i hope prices just keep on dropping, otherwise....idk, maybe they'll have a school verison or something.

 

[KillZone]

I'm just saying that they're stuff is going to be out of date and god only knows (and he always does because he's cool - I've done bad things, I need to say that to go to heaven) when school are going to have enough cash to buy a whole line of new computers (from Dell:shadedshu)with "Vista capable" expensive hardware so that they can just about trundle about on Vista. C'mon guys these things are only going to have 512mb RAM probably. I bet you wouldn't want to run Vista on 512mb, my school computers (farily new) run on 512 with XP and they can run it alright, but Vista, no they're screwed. Most schools in the UK will definitely only have 256mb on their present machines and (shudder) 2-2.8Ghz P4's/celerons because they're so cheap.

And the fact is there is nothing wrong with those systems for that purpose. Do you think everyone is going to rush out and buy new loaded systems with min. 2gb or ram and C2D's , don't think so. And for what? some aero graphics and some other funky features?

VISTA is just a big money generating venture that MS must do so Bill can fly into space, lol!!!

 

[casper250c]

Considering the cost of Vista and the fact that the performance is upto 25% SLOWER than XP, IMHO its a waste of an "upgrade" especially considering the supposed security updates open you up to all sorts of attacks. As always MS can't get their shit straight and will again hurt you to "help" you, check this link and then tell me how wonderful Vista is

http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=161&tag=nl.e589