(4 votes, average: 9.75 out of 10)
Loading ...IT analysts don’t hold much hope for XP reprieve
Gregg Keizer of Computerworld U.S. offers a bleak report:
Microsoft Corp. may be set to extend Windows XP’s availability for low-cost laptops and a new generation of handheld devices, but it won’t give the aged operating system a general reprieve from its June 30 retail and reseller cutoff, analysts said yesterday.
“Not likely,” said Directions on Microsoft analyst Michael Cherry, citing Microsoft’s need to push Windows Vista.
“XP has had one reprieve already,” said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at JupiterResearch LLC. “And there are ways they can extend the life of the technology without extending the life of the XP brand.”
Last September, Microsoft gave Windows XP a five-month stay, saying it would continue selling the operating system to large computer makers and at retail through the end of June, rather than call it quits Jan. 31, 2008, which had been its original plan.
Yesterday, reports surfaced that said Microsoft would also relax the June 30 deadline for low-cost laptops, such as the Asus Eee and the low-priced pocket devices that plan to use Intel’s Atom processors. Those laptops and devices will lack the horsepower to run Windows Vista.
“There’s clearly a need for something like XP in the mobile or ultramobile market, where it shines relative to Vista,” Gartenberg said.
Cherry agreed that Vista has no place on low-powered hardware, but said Microsoft was in a tough spot. If Vista’s specifications preclude its use on laptops in the $200 to $300 range, as they certainly do, and Microsoft doesn’t want to cede the turf to Linux, its only choice is XP. Yet Cherry said Microsoft would put XP to bed if it could.
“Regardless of what happens, at the end of the day we’ve got XP, Vista — all five versions of it — and then Windows 7 coming along,” Cherry said. “How long can they keep maintaining three big globs of code?”
But if people are expecting Microsoft to lengthen the life span of Windows XP for all users, they’re dreaming, Cherry continued. “I think it’s likely that Microsoft will extend the deadline, but I don’t think everyone will like what it is. They won’t keep it alive for all.”
Cherry again cited the difficulty of maintaining the code base for XP at the same time it makes the case for Vista and develops Windows 7. He also dismissed the fact that last September, Microsoft promised to make Windows XP Starter Edition available in emerging markets — generally defined as countries such as China, India, Russia and the like — through June 2010. “There’s a difference between maintaining something like XP Starter and XP for anyone who wants it,” Cherry argued.
Interest in Windows XP’s longevity has been driven by several factors, including the approaching June 30 deadline and the imminent release of another service pack, but the biggest reason users seem to want XP to live is a general reluctance to upgrade to Windows Vista.
Earlier this week, Forrester Research Inc. released results of monthly surveys during 2007 that polled more than 50,000 enterprise computer users. According to the surveys, Windows XP usage remained constant throughout the year at slightly over 89% of all Windows users in businesses. Windows Vista, meanwhile, grew from nearly nothing to just over 6%, but it appeared to get its gains at the expense of Windows 2000, not the dominant Windows XP.
A Forrester researcher said the data hinted that companies might hang onto Windows XP until the next iteration, Windows 7, is available in late 2009 or early 2010, skipping Vista altogether.
Gartenberg acknowledged the pressure to push out XP’s drop-dead date came from Vista’s troubles. “In the past, you could argue that the latest and greatest from Microsoft was better. But for many people and businesses, that just doesn’t fly this time.
“It boils down to the simple question,” he continued. “If Microsoft can’t convince their customers to move to Vista, will they will be able to kill XP?”
Add to: del.icio.us | Digg IT | Furl | Google | magnolia | StumbleIT | Wink | Yahoo! Technorati
April 3rd, 2008 at 8:27 am
Lol.
The exact same thing happened when XP was released, people latched on to their old Windows 98 systems for years forcing software companies to provide 2 sets of code for any program they released.
I think the faster Microsoft cans XP, the better. If people are concerned about compatibility, they shouldn’t be telling Microsoft to go backwards, they should be forcing their software suppliers to support the new O/S; that, or find a different program to use. Software developpers will start getting the message if they are losing business because they can’t keep up with the times.
April 8th, 2008 at 10:53 am
I have Vista Business since it came out.
I’ve done all the updates, the new SP, and still, it is not worth 10% of XP.
I went through BIOS updates, Firmware Upgrades, drivers updates, etc, from INTEL, PLEXTOR and MICROSOFT, and none of these super-paid people can make my Plextor SATA DVD-R work! So Since 1 year, I don’t have a DVD burner in my machine.
Thank You Vista, Thank you Bill, Thank you Intel…and Thank you Plextor. 3 Brands that I tell my clients to stay away from.
With their new “Corporate” way of thinking, they are paving their way to hell.
Unix is starting to look quite interesting!
April 29th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
While some people have always tended to cling with an older OS version once a new one is out, people are right this time.
Vista isn’t a great improvement which users should happily jump upon compared to Windows XP.
What does Vista provide?
A nice user interface (matter of taste), a few features that could easily (and often better) be realized with Windows XP by using 3rd party software (desktop search, anti-virus, firewall …) and some other marginal improvements.
Vista is good only for Microsoft themselves and the movie/music industry because it incorporates much stricter anti-piracy measures, DRM, copy-protection etc.
They implemented this deep down on kernel and driver level, hence the driver incompatibilities, performance issues, quirks and long development time which goes with Vista.
Not really features a legit customer wants to pay for.
Vista is a big revenue securing, law enforcement system serving the industry, not the user.
We should not support this.