XP-Professional is the darling of business operating systems. It is still in huge demand. Consumers have had less choice in avoiding Vista. Come June 30th, Microsoft is taking the next step in making it more difficult for the rest of us to avoid taking the plunge into Vista.
What does the June 30th cutoff date mean? It’s not the end of the world. The big guys like Dell and HP will no longer offer XP as a standalone option to purchase. Customers who order business class machines with either Vista Business or Vista Ultimate can order systems with XP-Professional preloaded. These machines will have Vista activation keys. They will ship with both Vista and XP discs and drivers. The big players will only be offering these machines with downgrade rights until January 31, 2009. Not all machines will have this option.
Northwest Computer will be offering XP as an option on our machines for the foreseeable future.
Copies of XP-Professional are still available for sale and will be available until at least January 31, 2009. There are rumors about a new version of Windows XP for business that are floating around. Don’t count on this. Microsoft is fast forwarding the deployment of their next version of Windows. They are hoping to have a release before the end of 2009. Vista is now being described openly as another Millenium edition. Microsoft is going to want to put this behind them as quickly as possible.
The one area that Microsoft has left open is surrounding ultra-low cost notebooks with low hardware requirements. The Asus EEE mini-notebook is an example of this. The notebook now comes with an option of using Linux or buying a model with XP preloaded on it. This is XP-Home. The cutoff date for these is now listed as June 30, 2010.
What does the June 30th cutoff date mean? It’s not the end of the world. The big guys like Dell and HP will no longer offer XP as a standalone option to purchase. Customers who order business class machines with either Vista Business or Vista Ultimate can order systems with XP-Professional preloaded. These machines will have Vista activation keys. They will ship with both Vista and XP discs and drivers. The big players will only be offering these machines with downgrade rights until January 31, 2009. Not all machines will have this option.
Northwest Computer will be offering XP as an option on our machines for the foreseeable future.
Copies of XP-Professional are still available for sale and will be available until at least January 31, 2009. There are rumors about a new version of Windows XP for business that are floating around. Don’t count on this. Microsoft is fast forwarding the deployment of their next version of Windows. They are hoping to have a release before the end of 2009. Vista is now being described openly as another Millenium edition. Microsoft is going to want to put this behind them as quickly as possible.
The one area that Microsoft has left open is surrounding ultra-low cost notebooks with low hardware requirements. The Asus EEE mini-notebook is an example of this. The notebook now comes with an option of using Linux or buying a model with XP preloaded on it. This is XP-Home. The cutoff date for these is now listed as June 30, 2010.
Support
According to PCWorld, “Obtaining support for XP after June 30 will be easier than trying to buy XP after that date. For starters, you have access to what Microsoft calls "mainstream support" for XP until April 14, 2009. Mainstream support includes the release of bug fixes and security patches, so you'll still be receiving updates for the operating system. You can pay Microsoft for help, as well, and the company will also honor all warranty claims until then.
After that date, and until April 8, 2014, Microsoft will offer what it calls "extended support" for XP. During that time, Microsoft will continue to issue security patches but won't release public bug fixes. Businesses that signed support contracts with Microsoft will be able to get bug fixes, but no one else will. Paid support will still be available, but warranty claims won't be honored. Microsoft says Windows XP customers will have to take up such claims--even if they relate to software--with the PC manufacturer at that point.”
Please don’t tell me you will be running machines that you buy this year in 2014.
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