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Microsoft backs down on XP

Discussion in 'Entertainment and Technology' started by Paul_UK, Jun 5, 2008.

  1. Paul_UK

    Paul_UK Guest

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    Someone emailed me this yesterday. Microsoft finally realising that not everyone loves or can even use Vista?

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    Microsoft backs down on XP

    Decision to allow low-cost desktop makers to install Windows XP Home until June 2010 reverses a move it rejected two months ago.

    By Gregg Keizer, Framingham | Wednesday, June 04 2008

    Microsoft's decision on Tuesday to allow low-cost desktop makers to install Windows XP Home on their hardware until June 2010 reverses a move it rejected two months ago.

    At the Computex trade show in Taipei, Taiwan, the company said it would allow computer manufacturers to pre-install Windows XP Home on what it called "nettops," which it defined only as "low-cost desktops," through June 30, 2010.

    Tuesday's decision follows an early April change in XP Home availability, when Microsoft postponed the retirement of the seven-year-old operating system by telling OEMs they could slap it on small and lightweight notebooks, dubbed ULCPCs, for ultra low-cost PCs, until the end of June 2010.

    At the time of that announcement, however, Microsoft was adamant that it wouldn't consider making the same deal on low-cost desktops. In an interview with Computerworld, Kevin Kutz, Windows client director, said that low-cost desktops would not be eligible for the extension.

    On Tuesday, a Microsoft spokeswoman explained the 180-degree turn as originating with customers and hardware partners.

    "One thing Microsoft has heard loud and clear, from both customers and partners, is the desire for Windows on this new class of devices," the spokeswoman said in an e-mail. "It is important to Microsoft that they meet the needs of their partners and customers and this is why the Windows XP Home offering is being extended to include net top devices."

    That explanation seems to fit the requirements spelled out by Microsoft's CEO in late April when he was asked if the company would push back the general retirement of XP from its current date of June 30, 2008. Speaking to reporters in Belgium, Steve Ballmer said, "If customer feedback varies, we can always wake up smarter." Later, however, Microsoft said that Ballmer's comments did not indicate a shift in strategy.

    One analyst Tuesday said that Microsoft's explanation made sense. "Customers and OEMs told them they needed to do this," said Michael Gartenberg of JupiterResearch.

    But Gartenberg also said that it was more than just feedback that forced Microsoft to make the move. "For certain classes of hardware, Windows XP is actually the best fit," he said. The lower-cost components required by low-cost notebooks and low-cost desktops -- primarily their underpowered processors -- preclude using Microsoft's newer OS, Windows Vista. "These lower-powered processors are not suitable for Vista, not now, not ever," Gartenberg argued.

    Microsoft has not defined either category -- low-cost notebooks or desktops -- in more than general terms. Tuesday, for instance, when the company was asked what would prevent OEMs from installing XP Home into more capable machines, the spokeswoman's response was only: "Microsoft is working closely with our OEM partners to ensure they understand the specifics of this Windows XP Home offering for netbook and nettop devices."

    "This kind of underscores that for many people Windows XP is good enough," added Gartenberg, "and shows that for now, XP, for certain classes of hardware, will be around for a while. Windows Vista has done well, but it's not perceived to have done well in the marketplace. Microsoft has had a hard time getting consumers on board Vista."

    Another analyst, however, didn't see the addition of low-cost desktops to the XP extension as much of a change. "I don't find this new exception to be inconsistent with the prior exceptions, but it is evidence that any time Microsoft sees a technology that is not ready for Vista, they could use XP," said Michael Silver, an analyst with Gartner,
    in an e-mail.

    Exactly, said Gartenberg. "Microsoft's been forced to extend XP with a lease on life," he said, referring to past changes in the company's XP wind-down schedule. "And if customers demand it again, Microsoft will have to capitulate again."

    Even the next version of Microsoft's flagship OS, labelled Windows 7 at the moment, may not be able to kill XP, said the analysts. "I'm not sure there will be anything magic in Windows 7 that will make it work better on a 512MB or 1GB PC," said Silver. "The extension of availability until Windows 7 may more likely reflect Microsoft's hope that by 2010 or so, the economics of the hardware will improve to the point where Windows 7 is viable on that class of PC."

    Windows 7, which Microsoft briefly touted last week, is expected out in late 2009 or early 2010, months before the end-of-availability for XP on the low-end notebooks and desktops.

    "While Microsoft needs to continue to streamline Windows to quell its appetite for more resources, how skinny they can get Windows 7 is still questionable," Silver said.

    Copyright (c) Fairfax Business MediaFairfax Media Publications Pty Limited, 2008

    Source
     
  2. Alex

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    I still dont believe they can get the majority to leave XP without forcing them, they cant do it by making a better product unless they like rewrite the whole kernel.. i mean its old now, made for old code and could use lots of optimization with the instruction set extensions, better multi-threading and lots of other stuff.
     
  3. PatC

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    hmm, This may just be all the geeks I hang out with, But I knew about this 3 weeks ago about this:stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:. The only problem with this of course, is that it is not going to be available to the public so they can install it on their own computer.
     
  4. PatC

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    yeah, If you think about it, they started programming it back in the '90s, and was released in '01, making it rather antiquated.
     
  5. Paul_UK

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    Please do not post stuff about using software illegally (it violates the Code of Conduct here). One post deleted and another edited.
     
  6. Alex

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    Oh sorry about that paul :slight_smile: forgot.. silly me :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:
    anyway its good they did this, XP is still more stable than Vista anyway, and the small laptops can as they say in the article not handle Vista well.
     
  7. Kenko

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    More toward "Or can even use Vista". They are trying to shut out Linux on the likes of the ASUS EeePC on the laptop end, and the $200 Everex PC's on the desktop. Though the added cost of OS licensing would make those ultra cheap products less attractive.

    Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PC's is a bare bones WinXP Operating system for Aoftware Assurance customers. To try and move people to the more recent NT 6 platform, maybe they should introduce a bare bones NT 6 operating system. "Vista ultra-basic".

    I also haven't heard any word on the fate of WindowsXP embedded which is capable of running on ultra low spec components. Speaking of which, I was going to try shoehorning XP onto my 12 year old laptop. 2000 runs on it fine.

    As far as it being old... Yes NT was first released in the 90's, but so was Linux ('91). BSD started in 1977 (and MacOS is BSD based). Linux of course shares BSD in having the basic UNIX system architecture based way back in the 60's. NT was built an from the ground up and as such actually has some very good features the others lack.

    Kernel wise Vista is better than XP, it's just some of the "junk" that gets put on top of it. Server 2003 is an improvement on XP, and likewise Server 2008 is supposed to be amazing. They do actually keep developing the kernel, it's just no one ever sees quantizable fruits of their labour.