[RTC List] Windows XP Sales Extended

[Gregg Foster]

Microsoft To Extend Windows XP Sales As Vista Concerns Mount

The software company said it will make the full version of Windows XP
available to personal computer manufacturers and retailers through June 30,
2008.

By Paul McDougall,   InformationWeek
<http://www.informationweek.com/;jsessionid=4XGDNXAS5KQEWQSNDLRSKHSCJUNN2JVN>
 Sept. 28, 2007
URL: http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=202102847


  Responding to some customers' lukewarm embrace of Windows Vista, Microsoft
said it will extend by several months availability of the operating system's
predecessor -- Windows XP.

The company said it will make the full version of Windows XP available to
personal computer manufacturers and retailers through June 30, 2008. It will
continue to offer a basic edition in emerging markets through June, 2010.

Microsoft introduced Windows XP in late 2001. The company ordinarily makes
operating systems available only for four years after launch date. However,
delays in producing Windows Vista -- which debuted in January -- forced
Microsoft to continue selling Windows XP longer than planned.

In recent months, Microsoft had pegged Windows XP's official expiration date
at Jan. 30. That will fall by the wayside in favor of the new dates,
Microsoft said Thursday.

Microsoft's official explanation for the move is that too many customers
have yet to complete the transition from Windows XP to Windows Vista. "There
are some customers who need a little more time to make the switch," said
Mike Nash, Microsoft's Windows product manager, in a statement posted on the
company's Web site.

While that may be, a number of signs have emerged in recent months that
Windows Vista's problems go beyond timing. A
survey<http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=199201492>conducted
earlier this year by
*InformationWeek* showed that an astonishing 30% of businesses have no plans
to purchase Windows Vista. It's an indication that many corporate software
buyers may take a long look at Linux, the Mac OS, or some other alternative
to Vista once Windows XP is no longer available.

Among other things, software buyers have railed against Windows Vista's
price, lack of compatibility<http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=198001898>with
existing software, and system requirements that exceed the
capabilities
of PCs more than a couple of years old.

PC makers have responded to such concerns by continuing to push Windows XP
despite the millions of dollars that their partner in Redmond has spent
promoting Vista. Dell, Lenovo, and Hewlett-Packard have in recent weeks gone
as far as offering customers discs that effectively lets them "downgrade"
their Windows Vista systems to Windows XP.

Despite such troubling signals from the market, Nash insists that Microsoft
does not believe Windows Vista is destined to become the tech industry's
version of the Ford Edsel. "Windows Vista is on track to be the fastest
selling operating system in Microsoft's history," Nash said.
Nash, on the Microsoft Web site, noted that Charter Communications and
Continental Airlines are among the companies that have moved to Windows
Vista "incredibly fast." Microsoft said it has sold more than 60 million
Windows Vista licenses to date.

-- 
Gregg Foster
Director of Business Development
Lost Coast Communications, Inc.
KHUM/KSLG/KWPT
P.O. Box 25
Ferndale, CA  95536
707-786-5104 voice
707-786-5100 fax
gregg at khum.com
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