Latest Windows Slogan: Vista, Why Bother?
by John Paczkowski
Posted on June 25, 2008 at 9:36 AM PT
Microsoft appears to have finally come to terms with the idea that some Windows users will skip Vista altogether and run XP until Windows 7 arrives at market in 2011. Or 2014. Or two years after the next official release date Microsoft announces.
In a note to customers Monday, Bill Veghte, senior vice president of Microsoft’s Online Services and Windows Business Group, reiterated that Microsoft (MSFT) will send XP off to meet the great BSOD in the sky on June 30. But he said the company will continue to support XP with security and other critical updates until April 2014. 2014. That’s 13 years after XP was first released.
“With the June 30, 2008, ‘end of sales’ date for Windows XP approaching, many people have asked me if they will still be able to get support for Windows XP. The answer is an emphatic ‘Yes, you will continue to be supported,’” Veghte wrote. “Our ongoing support for Windows XP is the result of our recognition that people keep their Windows-based PCs for many years.”
Huh. Apparently, it has nothing to do with the paucity of enterprise customers who seem to prefer XP to Microsoft’s newer, Vista operating system. Or Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Lenovo (LNVGY) and Dell (DELL) offering customers who purchase Vista machines the chance to replace the OS with Windows XP Professional. Or the antipathy with which Vista’s viewed in the market.
