Posted on 04/12/2007 8:20:09 AM PDT by ShadowAce
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 relentless promotion of Vista, manufacturers are still seeing plenty of demand from customers for systems preloaded with XP, especially in the finicky SOHO market.
In a recent post on its Direct2Dell blog, Dell reaffirmed to concerned customers that it wasn't about to force small business users -- who typically purchase PCs piecemeal, rather than in large enterprise-style orders -- to shift to Vista, which has experienced a less-than-stellar reaction from many buyers because of driver issues and moderately beefy hardware requirements.
"Dell recognizes the needs of small business customers and understands that more time is needed to transition to a new operating system," the post read in part. "The plan is to continue offering Windows XP on select Dimension and Inspiron systems until later this [northern] summer."
"From a local perspective, the post was a reminder more than an announcement," Dell ANZ corporate communications manager Paul McKeon told APC.
"This was something we'd always planned during the transition phase since businesses will have different time frames to adopt the new OS. If you're a consumer, you're unlikely to be managing more than say 2.4 OS images at home, so it's less of an issue"
There's general agreement amongst PC resellers that Vista has provided a minor boost to PC sales, but hasn't produced blockbuster numbers. A similar story applies in the retail space. Figures from marketing consultancy GfK suggest that after an initial sales surge, around 1500 copies of Vista are now being sold through Australian retailers each week, according to a recent report in the AFR.
While Dell's post suggested it wouldn't be promoting Vista systems to the home market, manufacturers still have the option of selling XP-based systems for consumers this year.
Thats a Java program, right?. OSX could use a little work in the Java functionality area, I agree. Have you tried the latest build on OSX 10.4?
My point really is that we don't need Vista. Microsoft really aught to quit gold-digging and make what they have work.
You can say it all you want, it's still not believable. You're not even up to the minimum RAM, having at most 448 MB (512 - minimum graphics memory for Aero). You have to be swapping like crazy on that slow laptop hard drive. 2 GB RAM means relatively little swapping, BIG difference.
This is no different than all the bellyaching we saw when XP came out about how horrible it was that Windows 98 and 2000 were being replaced since XP was only eye candy.
I never understood that about XP either, as there are major under the hood improvements, although pre-SP1 stability wasn't as good as 2K. Some people just resist change (I saw resistance to going to Win95 from 3.1), and I bet a good portion of Vista criticism is by such people. But other criticism is perfectly valid.
Another thing I didn't understand about XP was Microsoft's decision to consult Crayola on the color scheme. I ran XP without themes (looks like 2K) until skinning software got good. At least this time Microsoft just tried to copy Apple (although not too well).
Mark
MS isn't going to stop supporting XP at that point. MS will continue to support XP for years... They're only going to stop licensing new copies of the OEM version to manufacturers. Meaning that manufacturers won't be able to sell new computers with XP any more, although I would imagine that you could still get a downgrade license and activation key from MS, although you probably won't be able to get the media from them.
Mark
Just as a goof, about 9 years ago, I installed MS DOS 6.0 and Windows 3.1 on a Compaq DeskPro P3 800MHz system that I had laying around. Boy was it fast!
Mark
Check out #70
Encrypted bus...a completely useless CPU resource hog.
...but that's OK because Vista won't run your proprietary software, won't run your ACT accounting shelfware, and won't do your FedEx shipping (tough luck on your printer drivers, video drivers, etc., too).
I’m running W2K SP4 and have been fairly happy with it.
I have an old HP quad proc. running win 3.12 for workgoups. You talk about blazing! LOL
:O)
P
The opposite is one of my criticisms of Vista. Microsoft didn't need Vista, they needed something better. The NT architecture is very outdated and in need of replacement, not overhaul or attempts to make it "work." Can you imagine what OS X would be like today if Apple had just tried to improve OS 9 instead of replacing it?
Unless you have one of the known upgrade quirks, like heavy use of server side include on your Web sites, I'd really suggest going to 2003. I have to use a Win2K server sometimes and it's annoying and frustrating in comparison. Sometimes the following Microsoft product is actually much better than the previous.
Mark, Thanks for the well worded post. My point is ‘how robust is the support going to be’. Once a product enters ‘extended support’ lan it means no more bug fixes or enhancements jut security patches as microsoft deems needed. It means the next IE, Media Players, .... Wont be ported to XP.
Now I have been corrected and told MS plans to maintain Full support for the next couple of years (though I am not really sure) this is fine and I think, that being the case, MS is treating its customers fine.
Still I think cutting OEM out of the picture out as early as they are is not ideal.
Does this mean they will stop SELLING XP completely.....not even offer it in the stores......or that it will only no longer be offered preloaded when you purchase a new computer?
This story was very poorly-written.
From PC Magazine:
Windows Vista: Look Before You Leap
Vista Upgrade Tests
Our main findings:
This is no different than all the bellyaching we saw when XP came out about how horrible it was that Windows 98 and 2000 were being replaced since XP was only eye candy. History will repeat itself when everyone realizes most of the chicken littles dont even use Microsoft products themselves and have some other agenda theyre pushing.
Well, compared to 2000, XP is just eye candy. I still run 2000 myself, and I'm quite happy with it. 2000 was a huge improvement in reliability and stability. Everything since has been incremental improvement, polishing and pervasive Microsoft feature-creep.
Windows XP vs Vista test on TomsHardware:
I am a Microsoft user, nearly exclusively, and have been since MS DOS 3.3. But I deplore their business practices. I'm a firm believer in capitalism based on honest competition, not dirty dealing and arm-twisting. MS has proven repeatedly that they are not above doing absolutely anything to maintain dominance.
As time goes on, I'm really starting to take longer and longer looks at Linux.
Microsoft will stop licensing XP to OEMs after January 31, 2008.
Microsoft will no longer sell XP through any channel after January 31, 2009.
Microsoft will continue full support for XP until April 14, 2009. After that, Microsoft will only issue security updates, nothing else, unless you're a corporation who has paid for an extended support contract.
Microsoft will discontinue all support for XP after April 8, 2014.
Of course this is all subject to change.
Congrats!
Dang... while this is my 16,500th post, I've only posted 119 threads. =^(
I'm such an underachiever!
This is horrible. I’m sure you can still buy a Mac with OS 8.1 preloaded.
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