Microsoft Pulls the Plug on Windows XP
Windows XP, the bell tolls for thee.
Monday June 30 is the last day Microsoft will officially sell Windows XP. Despite protests from irate customers and lukewarm feelings about Windows Vista, Microsoft is retiring the six-year-old operating system. It won’t be available via retail outlets anymore, and major hardware manufacturers selling Windows-loaded computers will no longer be able to ship their boxes with Windows XP installed. Instead, customers will have to choose a flavor of Windows Vista for their new PC.
Of course, XP isn’t totally dropping off the map. Those with Vista Ultimate and Vista Business licenses can choose to downgrade to Windows XP if they wish, and smaller software resellers will be able to sell Windows XP until January 2009. Also, Microsoft will continue to sell XP for Eee-class ultra portable laptops. However, the days of being able to order an IBM or a Dell “off the shelf” with Windows XP are officially over.
Microsoft says it will continue to provide tech support for Windows XP until the end of 2009. By then, the company is expected to have released Windows 7, the next version of its desktop OS.
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