Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2c Release

blogs.technet.com ^ | 8/19/2007 | papasmurf

[papasmurf]

Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2c has released to manufacturing and will be available to system builders in September 2007.

SP2c to Resolve Shortage of Windows XP Product Keys Due to the longevity of Windows XP Professional, it has become necessary to produce more product keys for system builders in order to support the continued availability of Windows XP Professional through the scheduled system builder channel end-of-life (EOL) date of January 31, 2009.

Key Dates Summary September, 2007 Windows XP SP2c will be available to system builders from their distributors.

January 31, 2008 End-of-Life for product availability of Windows XP for all channels except System Builder.

January 31, 2009 End-of-Life for product availability of Windows XP for the System Builder channel.

[papasmurf]

Really interesting development since Microsnot stated, several times, that the OEM’s won't be able to sell new systems with XP starting Jan. 31, 2008.
On the web site it states that these new keys will continue to be made available for system builders until January 31, 2009.
So it looks like you will still be able to obtain a XP system from a system builder after the OEM’s cease to offer this option.
The "c" designator means it has been stripped of about 200+ files dealing with Media Player (no Media Player is installed) to satisfy the EU Anti-trust suit.

So, they've run out of "keys", which means that XP exceeded their estimations by more than 10%. This being so, why Vista, then?

[smith288]

XP sp2 is a fantastic OS from my personal experience. I think MS would be very well served to continue supporting it and even just improving upon it (like they should have done anyways prior to vista)

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

This being so, why Vista, then?

Vista was intended to kill off XP...the way that Win ME was released to kill off the old DOS-based Windows line (3.1/95/98/98se) in favor of the NT based versions.

With Microsoft's announcement of the coming of Windows 7, this seems truer than ever.

[Billthedrill]

Yeah. It may seem over-reacting to call this a nail in Vista's coffin but it does point to Microsoft recognizing that the established XP community is not moving to Vista in droves.

I'm honestly not an evangelist on either side. I have Vista on the two of my systems that are capable of supporting it properly and I like the eye candy. That's why I like the Mac, too. But for me it doesn't actually do anything that XP doesn't. And for Microsoft that's a problem.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

But for me it doesn't actually do anything that XP doesn't.

Yup. Remember the eye candy that was ME? After all the extra ballyhoo and fervor died down, all ME had over Win98se was System Restore. That and a hell of a lot more buggy behavior.

I never had any intention of switching to Vista.
My laptop (m'baby) is now a dual boot XP Pro / Debian Linux machine. I will always use XP Pro...no matter what Microsoft's support stance is on it.

[Jeff Chandler]

Remember the eye candy that was ME?

ME was a piece of garbage. I'll switch to vista when I upgrade, but for now I'll stick to XP. XP is a great UI.

[N. Theknow]

Off topic but any help would be appreciated.

Somehow I have managed to change my viewing preferences on FR. I can't seem to change back to headers with replies and reply numbers. All I get is either thread descriptions with teasers or just thread listing with number of views and replies.

Any suggestions?

[smith288]

Vista was intended to kill off XP...the way that Win ME was released to kill off the old DOS-based Windows line (3.1/95/98/98se) in favor of the NT based versions.

Windows ME was DOS based. XP was intended to put the nail in the proverbial DOS based OS coffin.

[papasmurf]

Click on the “More...” at the top right of your screen. This takes you to your account settings. Then, click on “My Preferences”. That’s where you can change your viewing settings.

[N. Theknow]

I did. It didn't work.

Tried to change, it said it was changing, but it stayed the same.

[papasmurf]

Maybe you’ll need to close everything and reboot. This will clear your cache, and with it, some persistant settings.

Or, run CC Cleaner.

[papasmurf]

This will clear your cache, and with it, some persistant settings cookies.

My bad.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

XP was intended to put the nail in the proverbial DOS based OS coffin.

True...but if it hadn't been for ME being what it was...after the nicely stable 98se...XP might not have been as well received as it was.