Windows XP has been a huge hit in the netbook market. It's strange to see Microsoft's older operating system still being more popular with many users than its newer Vista OS. If Microsoft had its way, XP would have been retired long ago and all Windows-based notebooks and netbooks would be running Vista by now.
Despite what Microsoft wants to see computer maker's use, the software giant has offered Windows XP alongside Vista since the launch of its newest OS. The software company has announced the retirement date for the XP operating system in the past, which was to have been June of 2008.
So many consumers and computer makers wanted to continue using Windows XP in low cost netbook systems that Microsoft extended the June deadline for retirement. The final cut off date was set to be January 31, 2009 after postponing the June deadline earlier this year.
Microsoft has now announced yet another delay in retiring Windows XP from the market. BBC News reports that Microsoft has announced that it will continue to allow Windows XP to ship until May 30, 2009. The catch is that vendors have to submit their XP sales forecasts by January 31, 2009.
Microsoft will allow the vendors to take shipments of XP based on their sales forecast through May 30, 2008. Microsoft still says that the next operating system, Windows 7, won’t be offered until late 2009 or 2010.
Despite that claim, ASUS has stated that it expects to offer netbooks running Windows 7 by mid-2009. The new May retirement date would jibe well with ASUS' claims of Windows 7 netbook availability.
Again extending the retirement deadline for XP is a sign that consumers and OEMs are still resistant to Windows Vista. Much of the issue is with netbooks where the little machines aren’t large enough to offer hardware powerful enough to provide a robust Vista experience.
Source: DailyTech
