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Loading ...Dear Customers: Microsoft addresses the XP outcry
With only one week to go before it pulls the plug on sales of the operating system, Microsoft made public a letter sent to customers about their support options, the business issues and the future of Windows 7.
Read the full story here: MS plugs downgrades as XP deadline nears
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Microsoft calls shots on XP downgrades, says Dell
From Computerworld U.S.:
Microsoft has put limits on the types of PCs that can be downgraded to Windows XP after June 30, Dell said yesterday, a restriction that means it will offer home users the option only on machines designed for gamers.
Buyers of the three consumer models that can be downgraded to XP after today must pay an additional $20 fee, Dell also said. The charge is similar to the $20 to $50 added to the price of Dell’s entry-level business computers.
“Microsoft says what kinds of systems can be downgraded,” said Dell spokeswoman Anne Camden yesterday. “Those are enterprise, small business and gaming systems.”
While Microsoft has set June 30 as the general end of availability for Windows XP, Dell will stop preinstalling most versions of the seven-year-old operating system today. It will still ship some PCs with Windows XP, however, by taking advantage of the downgrade rights built into Vista Business and Vista Ultimate. Downgrading lets Dell install Windows XP Professional in lieu of Vista, although the newer operating system is still shipped with the machine so that buyers can, if or when they choose, move from XP to Vista.
“Small businesses are slow to transition to Vista,” said Camden, who noted that business users often rely on applications that don’t run in the newer OS. “Gamers are in [a] similar situation. They often have significant investments in special peripherals and special games that won’t work in Vista.”
After today, Dell will downgrade only three machines in its upper-end XPS consumer line, Camden confirmed: the XPS 630 and XPS 720 H2C desktops and the XPS M1730 notebook. Previously, Dell had said it would not offer XP as an option after today on its mainstream Inspiron lines of desktops and laptops.
A spokeswoman for Microsoft denied that the company is keeping any customers from downgrading. “No, Microsoft is not targeting any specific customers with downgrade rights,” she said in an e-mail. “Anyone who buys Windows Vista Business or Windows Vista Ultimate is eligible for a downgrade.” Nor is Microsoft telling computer manufacturers which type of PCs they can downgrade to XP, she added.
In comparison to its limited number of consumer PCs that can be downgraded from Vista to XP after today, Dell’s small business selection includes all four lines: Vostro, Latitude, OptiPlex and Precision.
Dell, which said yesterday that it would charge up to $50 to factory-install an XP downgrade on its Vostro-branded desktops and notebooks, added later in the day that it planned to waive those fees for a limited time. “I can’t say much more than ‘limited time,’ Camden said Tuesday afternoon, “but I wouldn’t expect it to last more than a couple of weeks.”
Buyers of Dell’s Latitude laptops, OptiPlex desktops and Precision desktops and laptops don’t incur any additional fee for downgrading.
The downgrade charge waiver for Vostro customers begins tomorrow, said Camden, who added that there will not be a similar deal for buyers of the three XPS machines that include the downgrade option.
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Symantec pins blame for XP SP3 registry corruption on Microsoft
The finger-pointing is getting ugly. Gregg Keizer reports:
Symantec Corp. Thursday said it was Microsoft’s code that crippled some PCs after upgrades to Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) emptied Device Manager, deleted network connections, and packed the registry with thousands of bogus entries.
“We finally got to the bottom of this last night,” said Dave Cole, Symantec’s senior director for product management of its consumer software. “All of these problems are related to the same thing, a Microsoft file that created all the garbage entries [in the registry].”
He also said that some of the same symptoms had been acknowledged by Microsoft when users updated to Windows XP SP2 several years ago; Cole referenced a pair of Microsoft support documents to back up his claim.
Two weeks ago, after Microsoft launched Windows XP SP3 on Windows Update, users started reporting that their network cards and previously crafted connections had mysteriously vanished from Windows after updating with the service pack. The Device Manager had been emptied, they said, and Windows’ registry, a directory that stores settings and other critical information, had been packed with large numbers of bogus entries.
Most users who posted messages on Microsoft’s XP SP3 support forum said that the errant registry keys — which started with characters such as “$%&” and appeared corrupted at first glance — were located in sections devoted to settings for Symantec products. Not surprisingly, they quickly pinned blame on the security company.
Earlier this week, Symantec denied that its software was at fault, and instead pointed a finger at Microsoft.
Thursday, Cole said Symantec engineers had connected the current problem to a Microsoft file named “fixccs.exe.” According to information on the Web, fixccs.exe stands for “Fix CCS MaxSubkeyName mismatch,” and appears to be part of both XP SP3’s and SP2’s update packages.
Cole wasn’t sure exactly what function fixccs.exe served. “But it caused similar problems with the Device Manager after SP2. It looks like it’s reared its head again.”
Two Microsoft support documents — KB893249 and KB914450 — both describe a problem remarkably similar to what users have reported recently. “After you install Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) on a Windows XP-based computer, the Device Manager window is blank or some devices no longer appear,” reads KB893249.
The fixccs.exe file attempts to make changes to the registry, said Cole, but in some cases also adds large numbers of unnecessary keys. When asked why so many users had reported seeing the errant entries in sections reserved for Symantec products, Cole called it “the luck of the draw. We have a fair number of keys in the registry, and we’re on a lot of systems. This is not exclusive to Symantec.”
Others have noted that too. A user identified as MRFREEZE61, who posted the first message on the Microsoft support forum thread two weeks ago, and later came up with a workaround, said as much today.
“The reported problems are not just limited to those using Symantec products,” wrote MRFREEZE61 in a comment added to the original Computerworld story. “Folks on the forum report this specific registry corruption with no Symantec products installed at all. Some find this corruption in device control set enumerators associated with UPNP (Universal Plug and Play) and other ‘legacy devices,’ others from users of Avast [Antivirus].”
Fixccs.exe has also been linked to problems some users had installing early builds of XP SP3 late last year. In a support forum thread that started Dec. 22, 2007, Shashank Bansal, a Microsoft engineer helping users troubleshoot XP SP3 installation bugs, said: “This is a serious problem for us and we would like to investigate it to further depths. We would need help from all users on this forum for the same.” Bansal then asked users who had had trouble updating from XP SP2 to SP3 to identify the process that had hung or had hogged CPU cycles. “Look out for cscipt.exe or fixccs.exe,” he asked.
On Thursday, Cole said Symantec was working on a standalone tool that would delete the extraneous registry entries. “We hope to have it ready pretty quickly,” he said. “We’re working with Microsoft in the normal channels.”
That word must not have trickled down to Microsoft’s technical support representatives. Users who have posted to Symantec’s support forum and others who have e-mailed Computerworld claim that they have been told by Microsoft support that the fault is all or partially Symantec’s.
A user going by “ZLevee” copied messages received from Microsoft support to a Thursday post on the Symantec support site. “Based on the current research, the issue can probably be caused by the conflicts between SP3 and Norton. Please let me know if you have any Norton product installed.,” ZLevee said the Microsoft support representative had claimed.
A Computerworld reader e-mailed an account of his experience last week with Microsoft’s support. “I had an online chat with a tech support person named ‘Obaid’ on 5/18,” said Thom Nielsen in the e-mail. “He told me that Symantec products do NOT work with XP SP3. He told me Symantec is aware of the problem(s) & is working on it.”
“This is the first I’ve heard of this,” said Cole when asked to comment. “I hope we can clear up any confusion.”
When asked earlier Thursday whether it had uncovered any more information about the disappearing Device Manager and the corrupted registry entries, Microsoft said it nothing new to add beyond the recommendation it made Tuesday: that users contact the company’s technical support desk if they have had problems upgrading to XP SP3.
Microsoft was not available for comment Thursday night.
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...XP SP3 update corrupts Windows registry, users claim
An update from Computerworld U.S.:
Symantec Corp. today denied that its consumer security software, including Norton Internet Security and Norton 360, is to blame for wreaking havoc on some users’ PCs after they upgraded to Windows XP Service Pack 3.
Microsoft Corp. declined to answer questions about the problem, which has emptied Windows’ Device Manager and deleted network connections, preventing some users from connecting to the Internet or to wireless networks.
According to reports posted the day after Microsoft launched Windows XP SP3 on Windows Update, some users found that their network cards and previously-crafted connections had mysteriously vanished from Windows after updating to the service pack.
“The Network Connections screen now does not show any of the NIC cards. I have three adapters that used to show up,” said someone using “MRFREEZE61″ as an alias on Microsoft’s XP SP3 support forum on May 7. “In an attempt to troubleshoot, I tried to bring up the Device Manager, and to my surprise it is now empty.”
Numerous other users corroborated MRFREEZE61’s account on the same support thread.
MRFREEZE61 reported that he had found large numbers of corrupted entries in Windows Registry, a directory that stores settings and other critical information for Microsoft’s operating system. Those entries, said MRFREEEZE61, began with the characters “$%&”; once they were removed, the PC returned to normal.
Others chimed in to claim that the errant keys were located in sections of the registry devoted to settings for Symantec products, and they pinned blame on the security company’s consumer-grade software installed on their PCs. “I see parent keys that all seem to be Norton/Symantec product keys,” said someone identified as “gfrost.”
“This appears to be a Symantec-related problem according to the keys showing up,” said another user, “datarimlens.” “Is anyone from Symantec on this yet? Since SP3 has been distributed to at least one of my machines, am I to believe that this problem did not show up in testing? Really? For something as widely tested as SP3? Really? I mean seriously?”
“I upgraded three well-maintained laptop machines, one with NIS2008 [Norton Internet Security 2008] installed and running during the upgrade, one with NIS2008 installed but shut down during installation and one without NIS2008 installed,” said “bighowie,” yet another user posting to the forum. “As you guessed, the one without NIS2008 upgraded like a charm. No problems. The other two have the same mess as identified by all in this thread.”
Today, Symantec said its initial investigation had uncovered no cause and effect between its software and the corrupted registry keys, which in some cases numbered in the thousands.
“While we’re seeing that this issue can affect Norton users, we don’t believe we’re the root cause,” said Sondra Magness, a Symantec spokeswoman, in an e-mail. “In further searches on this issue, we found a number of users experiencing the problem but who do not have Norton software and/or are experiencing the issue on XP SP2.”
In a follow-up telephone conversation, Dave Cole, Symantec’s senior director for product management of its consumer offerings, acknowledged that users running Norton titles were experiencing problems, but he said the numbers are small. “The support lines are not ringing off the hook,” he said. Cole also said that Symantec had done “extensive testing” of its products with Windows XP SP3, but this issue hadn’t surfaced.
And he essentially blamed Microsoft for causing the problem. “This is related to XP SP3,” he said, “and XP SP3 has already had other issues specific to some OEMs and some processors.”
Cole was referring to the “endless reboot” snafu that users began reporting after applying the service pack upgrade. Last week, Hewlett-Packard Co., whose AMD-powered machines were cited by most users as the only ones affected, confirmed the rebooting glitch, and Microsoft announced it would add a filter to Windows Update to prevent AMD-based PCs from obtaining XP SP3 via the update service’s listings.
“People need to exercise caution before [updating to] XP SP3,” said Cole. “This may well go beyond Symantec.”
For its part, Microsoft has remained mum. Although a Microsoft engineer asked users on the support forum for additional information — and provided an e-mail address for them to forward details — the company did not address questions put to it Monday that asked it to confirm the problem, point out any posted Microsoft solutions and fix blame on either Symantec or its XP SP3 update.
Microsoft limited its response to boilerplate language that it has used before in statements about XP SP3. “Customers who experience a problem with Windows XP SP3 installation should contact Microsoft Customer Support Services, which can provide free assistance and troubleshooting for these issues,” a company spokeswoman said in an e-mail Monday afternoon.
Some users, in fact, reported that they had contacted Microsoft’s help desk, and via a remote session managed by the tech support representative, had had their Windows registry cleaned. Many others, however, vented at the apparent lack of interest by Microsoft in their troubles.
“I see no evidence that Microsoft is working on this issue, or even that they are mildly concerned about it,” wrote “Sandbridge” Friday.
MRFREEZE61 posted clean-up instructions for afflicted users on the Microsoft support forum, and several reported back that the work-around had done the trick. “Hey Mr. Freeze, just wanted to say that your solution saved my butt big time,” said someone identified as “RevDAGG” on Sunday.
Manually deleting the rogue registry keys, however, was impossible for some, who reported thousands, even tens of thousands, of corrupted entries; several called for an automated tool to help them do clean-up.
“Once we’ve figured out how many customers this affects, [an automated tool] is absolutely possible,” said Symantec’s Cole. “If there is something we can do to address the problem, we’ll do it.”
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...SP3 rollout snarled by Windows XP change
Gregg Keizer of Computerworld U.S. filed this report:
Microsoft confirmed Wednesday that it delayed the rollout of Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) because changes to the operating system can corrupt data in the company’s retail point-of-sale and store management software.
The company has also suspended automatic distribution of Vista SP1 as well as XP SP3. “Yes, we are temporarily holding any additional automatic distribution of Windows Vista SP1″ said a spokeswoman.
Tuesday, Microsoft postponed the expected release of XP SP3 because of what it called a “compatibility issue” between the OS and Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System (RMS), point-of-sale and store management software designed for small and midsize retailers. When it announced the service pack’s delay, however, Microsoft did not spell out the specifics of the bug.
In fact, a Microsoft representative had outlined the problem in a post to the RMS support forum five days earlier, on April 24. “The Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System (RMS) Development team has identified problems when Windows Vista SP1 is installed,” said Tom Berger, who identified himself as a Microsoft online support engineer. “Windows Vista SP1 may cause data loss and corruption in Microsoft Dynamics RMS databases.”
According to Berger, Windows Vista SP1 changed the way Microsoft SQL Server handles some database records, specifically those that include information from multiple tables. “All users who have applied Windows Vista SP1 will be affected,” he added.
A Microsoft spokeswoman on Wednesday acknowledged that the same problems affected RMS users running XP SP3.
The company is also working on filters to block machines running RMS from being offered either Vista SP1 or XP SP3; it will resume automatic delivery of Vista SP1 and add XP SP3 to Windows Update once those filters are in place.
In the meantime, Windows Vista users can upgrade to SP1 by manually selecting it from Windows Update — it hasn’t been removed, only suspended from automatic download and installation — or downloading a standalone installer from the Microsoft site.
Although Windows XP users have no similar official alternative, some have uncovered a standalone installer for SP3 buried on Microsoft’s servers, and have been posting links on the TechNet support forum. Although the installer — available in several languages, including English, German and French — was vetted by numerous users who said it was identical to the finished version released earlier to TechNet and MSDN subscribers, Microsoft would not confirm that the links led to sanctioned files.
“In this particular case, it’s possible that some third-party websites are linking to the Windows XP SP3 software that we have published for MSDN and TechNet subscribers,” a spokeswoman said in an e-mail. “Since we cannot confirm the source of every link that third-parties provide, our recommendation is that customers wait until we’ve published Windows XP SP3 to Windows Update and the Download Center.”
Microsoft’s record with Windows service packs has not been impressive. Vista SP1, for example, was held from most users for six weeks because of balky device drivers, and the company initially blocked paying subscribers of its TechNet and Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) from downloading either Vista SP1 or XP SP3.
Microsoft has not divulged a timetable for resuming Vista SP1 on Windows Update, or offering XP SP3 for the first time. It also has not set a schedule for delivering a fix for the RMS bug.
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Windows XP SP3 suffers delay
From IDG News Service:
Microsoft has delayed the release of a third service pack for Windows XP, blaming a “compatibility issue” between the software and a retail-chain-management application.
Microsoft had said last week that it completed development on Windows XP, Service Pack 3 (SP3), and that it would be available via its software-update services on Tuesday. However, incompatibilities discovered in the past several days between an application called Microsoft Dynamics RMS and both Windows XP SP3 and Windows Vista Service Pack 1 will force the company to hold off on releasing the software. Dynamics RMS is a retail-chain-management software for small and mid-sized businesses.
Microsoft said it is putting filtering in place to prevent its Windows Update service from offering both service packs to systems running Microsoft Dynamics RMS. Once that filtering is in place, Microsoft will release Windows XP SP3 to Windows Update and Download Center for users not running the application causing the problem. The company on Tuesday did not say how long putting in filters would take.
Microsoft is recommending that Microsoft Dynamics RMS customers not install Windows XP SP3 or Windows Vista SP1. For more information, those customers should contact Microsoft Customer Support Services, the company said.
A fix to the Dynamics RMS problem is being tested and “will be available as soon as that process is complete,” Microsoft said. The company did not provide a time frame for completion of the testing and recommends customers visit its TechNet Forums for more information regarding Windows XP SP3.
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(2 votes, average: 9 out of 10) Loading ...Dell may come to rescue of Windows XP customers
From InfoWorld:
InfoWorld has confirmed that Dell will sell and support Windows XP to consumers beyond the June 30 Microsoft sales cutoff date that Microsoft reaffirmed today, after earlier comments from CEO Steve Ballmer seemingly indicated it might reconsider that decision.
Dell will take advantage of a licensing option in Vista Business and Vista Ultimate that lets PC makers provide XP under the Vista license, which Microsoft calls a “downgrade” license. (Enterprises with site licenses have these same rights with any version of Vista.) In essence, the user is buying a Vista license that it can apply to XP, and Microsoft can still claim a Vista sale.
Dell will preinstall XP Professional as a “downgrade” on a variety of desktop PCs and laptops, a spokesperson said, saving users the hassle of doing it themselves. The computers available with the XP option will include the Windows Vista installation DVD in the box so users can later install Vista over XP under the same license if they wish.
The “downgrade” program is available as an option on some Dell Latitude, OptiPlex, and Dell Precision systems at no charge. It’s also available as an option on some Vostro and Dell XPS gaming systems for a small fee; these systems are targeted mainly at small business users and consumers.
A Dell spokesperson said this program will be supported as long as Microsoft supports the “downgrade” program.
Although Dell will ship a resource DVD that includes XP and Vista drivers for included peripherals, it’s unclear whether Dell will ship XP drivers for all the available options. For example, a Vostro 200 desktop today available with a choice of Windows XP and Windows Vista has an option for a wireless card that will not work under XP.
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Microsoft flack douses Ballmer’s suggestion of XP reprieve
Well, that certainly didn’t take long. An update from our friends at IDG News Service:
Comments by Steve Ballmer at a press conference in Europe on Thursday led to speculation that Microsoft is reconsidering its June 30 deadline to stop selling most new Windows XP licenses. A spokeswoman from Microsoft’s public relations firm said there is no change to the current plan, however.
“Our plan for Windows XP availability is unchanged. We’re confident that’s the right thing to do based on the feedback we’ve heard from our customers and partners,” the spokeswoman said, reading from a Microsoft statement.
Ballmer’s comments at a press conference at Louvain-la-Neuve University in Belgium led to a flurry of reports that Microsoft may be considering an extension of its deadline.
“If customer feedback varies we can always wake up smarter, but right now we have a plan for end-of-life for new XP shipments,” Ballmer said, according to Reuters. Microsoft did not have a transcript of the event, but the spokeswoman from Waggener Edstrom said the report seemed accurate.
The spokeswoman said Microsoft is aware that some customers are pushing for an extension to the deadline — more than 160,000 people have signed a “Save XP” petition launched by Infoworld magazine, for example. But the company has also done its own research among partners and customers and feels that “the dates are right,” she said.
“We feel we’ve made the right accommodations for customers in certain segments who may need more time to transition to Windows Vista,” she said. “But as Steve noted, we maintain a constant stance of listening to our customers and our partners. That’s what is guiding our plan, and will continue to guide us going forward.”
The “accommodations” refer to several exceptions that Microsoft has made to the June 30 deadline. For example, companies that make volume purchases of Vista Business or Vista Ultimate can ask their vendor to “downgrade” their license to Windows XP. Microsoft has also made exceptions for the emerging class of small, ultra-low-cost PCs, and it will continue to provide Windows XP Starter Edition for PCs sold in emerging markets.
Retailers and PC vendors can also continue to sell any backlog of Windows XP licenses that they bought before the June 30 deadline. Beyond those exceptions, most new Windows licenses purchased after June 30 will be for Windows Vista.
The owner of a PC support center near Boston questioned which users Microsoft had been gathering feedback from.
“I’d love to know exactly what, and how many ‘customers’ Microsoft claims to be getting this feedback from,” David Bookbinder, owner of Total PC Support, said via e-mail. “My guess, and it’s an educated one, is that it’s more likely stockholder feedback.”
Total PC Support provides service to home and small-business users in eastern Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire.
“I service over 600 clients and have yet to find ONE speak highly of Vista, or wish XP to end,” he wrote. “And that goes from the biggest novice on up.”
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Ballmer offers hope for a Windows XP reprieve
This just in from our counterparts at Computerworld U.S.:
Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer said there is a chance the company could reconsider its decision to begin retiring Windows XP on June 30, according to news reports from Belgium.
Both the Associated Press and Reuters said Ballmer hinted that Windows XP’s availability could be extended if customers lobby to keep the six-year-old operating system. So far, Ballmer said, they have not.
“XP will hit an end-of-life. We have announced one. If customer feedback varies, we can always wake up smarter, but right now we have a plan for end-of-life for new XP shipments,” Reuters quoted Ballmer as saying.
Previously, Microsoft has set June 30 as the end of XP for computer manufacturers, and the date when it would pull the OS from its retail list. Small shops and individuals pegged as “system builders,” however, will be able to pre-install XP on assembled machines for another year.
Yesterday, while answering a number of questions related to Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3), which was released Monday, a company spokeswoman said that there had been no change in the June 30 date. Microsoft did not immediately respond today to a follow-up request for comment.
“In the business environment, we still have customers who are buying PCs with XP,” Ballmer acknowledged today.
In fact, according to Forrester Research, use of Windows XP in business barely budged last year, even though Windows Vista debuted in January.
Surveys of more than 50,000 corporate computer users, said Forrester, showed that 89.5% of all Windows users were running XP at the beginning of 2007, and 89.8% were using it at year’s end. Vista’s share, meanwhile, reached 6.3% by the end of 2007, a gain that was almost exactly mirrored by a drop in Windows 2000 use.
Today was the second time in as many weeks that Ballmer hinted at a possible reprieve for XP.
Last week, during a talk at Microsoft’s annual MVP — Most Valuable Professional — conference, he said: “We have a lot of customers that are choosing to stay with Windows XP, and as long as those are both important options, we will be sensitive, and we will listen, and we will hear that.”
Like today, however, Ballmer stopped far short last week last week of actually changing XP’s drop-dead date for OEMs and retail. “I know we’re going to continue to get feedback from people on how long XP should be available,” he said then. “We’ve got some opinions on that. We’ve expressed our views.”
Ballmer was in Belgium Thursday to help launch a new Microsoft facility in Mons, a city about 40 miles south of Brussels.
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(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?”
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