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
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.