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Windows XP is dead! Long live Windows XP!

That traditional cheer for beloved kings may well be on the lips of most Windows users as Microsoft goes through with its deadline for Windows XP.  Today marks the first day that PC makers are no longer allowed to sell XP-based PC’s. 

Despite widespread criticism of Windows Vista, and the “Save Windows XP” movement, Microsoft did not change its deadline for the seven-year old operating system.  Microsoft reports that it has already sold 140 million copies of Vista, which is a bit surprising since most consumers actually prefer the older OS, resulting in a ‘downgrade’ option which can be obtained with some new PC’s, and even big companies have decided not to have a Vista deployment at all.  Intel’s IT department even said that it “found no compelling case” to switch to Vista.

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While we have already seen confirmation from Microsoft that Windows 7 was set for a 2010-2011 launch, it seems that they may be running a little ahead of schedule. According to Bill Gates, they are ahead of schedule and the OS could come “within the next year.” Of course he was not specific enough and he could have been referring to an early testing version as opposed to the regular retail version.

After the launch of Vista and all the bad press that followed I would imagine that most people would rather have them take their time and make sure its truly ready for a public release. Of course with the recent end-of-life extension that was given to Windows XP, this could be a good way to get rid of XP once and for all. If you remember the extension gave Windows XP until at least June 2010 or for one year after Windows 7 was released, which means that XP could officially die in June 2010, assuming Windows 7 was released on or before June 2009.

Read [CNET]

Microsoft will not be killing off Windows XP this June as expected, instead it has been given an extension of life, sadly it was not due to the Save Windows XP Campaign that we saw, but instead because of the recent surge in low-cost computers such as the Eee PC, Cloudbook and recently announced 2go PC.

Microsoft has announced that Windows XP Home will be available until at least June 2010 and for one year after Windows 7 is released, which could mean we will see availability through 2011 and possibly into 2012.

Read [AP Google News]