In April, Microsoft extended the life of Windows XP Home by two years for budget laptops. In June, the software giant did the same for ULCPCs as its partners continued to report strong demand. Now
Microsoft is making another extension, this one affecting a much less specific market; the software giant has decided to halt XP Professional media shipments to major computer makers (system builders are not included) not on January 31, 2009, but instead on July 31…
Ever since the release of Windows Vista, Microsoft has offered customers “downgrade rights.”
Essentially this means that those who purchase Vista Business or Vista Ultimate have the option to use to Windows XP Professional on their PC and then move to Vista when they are ready, without having to pay for an upgrade. OEMs have supported this option forcefully ever since Windows XP expired on June 30, 2008 (XP was no longer licensed to OEMs and retail sales were terminated). Downgrade rights never expire, however, so those who insist on using XP will be able to as long as they can get their hands on Vista.
Leaves lots of room for blather about hardware this and that and – Microsoft hopes – little notice that XP is still more portable, system to system, than Vista.
Microsoft has failed big time. The dinosaur is going to die. Great!!!
Imagine Microsoft announcing a small, fast, lightweight version of Windows that runs the critical applications, not everything since Windows 3.1 – boots in 15 seconds and shuts down like flicking a switch.
The world would beat a path to their door.
They can’t do it. They’re tied up in endless knots, internally. They will watch helplessly while someone else does it, then try to block it with litigation.
Not likely that MSFT will die. Windows, including Vista, is easy to use. For me, it’s easier than Mac OS X. My wife likes OS X and disagrees, but we don’t battle about it or anything.
Mac OS X works only on Macs (which cost twice as much as windows PCs), and Linux is so hard for the average non-techie to use that those people will stay with Windows (though a few may buy expensive Macs).
Microsoft will continue to “extend the life” of XP until they come out with Windows 7. If given a choice, virtually NO ONE would choose Vista.
It’s a pain in the ass to use, takes up much more resources, and doesn’t do anthing (except enforce DRM better) that XP doesn’t do.
A total dud.
I have machines running XP, Vista, OS X, and Linux, and the Vista machine is gathering dust. If I had realized early on what a POS the operating system was, I would have upgraded it to XP before it had so much stuff on it that upgrading wasn’t feasible.
I’m glad… so far i haven’t found any reason to “upgrade” to vista…
I’ve liked Vista far more than previous versions of windows, although it does need a better PC to run well (but EVERY new version of windows needs faster hardware compared to the previous).
You’d never guess it, but a computer that ran Win95 “all right” chugged on 98.
A computer that “got by” on 98 was molasses on 2000. And even worse on XP.
By the current running trend in OS logic, a Win3.11 PC should be able to bench well on all OSs, including XP. …until Vista.
Because apparently, it’s ONLY this particular new OS that requires a hardware jump for optimal/increased performance.”
Sorry, 486 owners. You got away with 33MHz until now, but Vista is just too overbearing.
#6 – Zybch
>>You’d never guess it, but a computer that
>>ran Win95 “all right” chugged on 98.
I didn’t have any trouble with that upgrade. The company I was working for at the time upgraded all 1500 of their computers, and didn’t have to replace the hardware.
And sure, software upgrades sometimes require hardware upgrades, but in the case of Vista, it’s (at best) a lateral move for the software, and a BIG upgrade for the hardware. I know plenty of people with 512M PCs who would gain absolutely NOTHING by upgrading to a bleeding edge turbocharged PC with 4G of RAM.
So why bother?
MM,
as well as needing 2 gigs to run a WORD processor, is STUPID.
i wont even TOUCH the requirements for GAMES, its HORRENDOUS.. as DX10 REQUIREMENTS are totally MAD. I dont want to install a $300 video card.
And finding out that AGP, ISNT around anymore is going to make for a BIG HEADACHE for alot of companies, and swapping mobo to get PCI(E-X??)
With enough hardware, yes, Vista can do an adequate job of… well, running Vista.
We all know Vista is a turkey – let’s forget about it. What worries me now is that Windows 7 isn’t likely to be significantly better. MS is like Ford, incapable of real change.
#3
“My wife likes OS X and disagrees, but we don’t battle about it or anything.”
The golden rule of marriage: The wife is ALWAYS right or the next time you have sex is with yourself.
I’m no fan of Microsoft but even I have to admit, XP is pretty good.
I really wanted Vista to work. However, it fails miserably. I much rather prefer XP.
On a side note – when the DOJ came down on Microsoft in 1999/2000 the Internet Bubble busted and the economy went into the tank.
Now Vista is failing and the economy is tanking again. Coincidence? hmmmmmm
#3 – Thanks for making us aware that you wife is smarter than you are.
I don’t see why they have to scrap a perfectly good operating system anyway. (XP)
The biggest problem I have with the whole Microsoft ecosystem these days is that it’s boring. There is nothing coming out of Redmond that inspires me, and the products that I have to use are mediocre. It’s not just Vista.
Powershell (just give me Unix please so I can grep and pipe the way God intended)
Visual Studio (compared with IntelliJ, it’s like programming with mittens)
TFS (where do I start with how bad this is)
Office 2008 (it’s pretty and pointless – and the style sheets get dumber with every release)
Windows Mobile (doomed, gutless, ugly)
Vista (so I can play Halo 2 now, whoopie doo)
IE (ugly and noncompliant)
SharePoint (fat, kludgey, and I still have no clue what I’m supposed to use it for)
OK, I like SQL Server. And they make nice Mice.
Gee I can feel my potential soaring….
>> QB said, on October 6th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
The biggest problem I have with the whole Microsoft ecosystem these days is that it’s boring.
As for me, I think the whole paradigm of “OSs” is wrong — not just Microsoft but Apple and Linux, too.
I think computers should be application-centric rather than OS centered. In other words, the user should only be vaguely aware that an OS is even running while they accomplish whatever they want to do with the computer.
For me the best OS is something like a PlayStation where the game is the center of attention and the user doesn’t give the OS a second thought.
(or so it was with my PlayStation I. I haven’t upgraded!)
at the risk of being called a LUDDITE, I run XP, as I am slightly behind the times in most matters! XP works well with the apps I use, my hardware and causes me few problems in use.
so, why should I change if I am not offered something that is much better than what I have now. I, too, am waiting for WIN 7. if it turns out to be good, I wll get a new PC with 7
installed. if not, I will switch to MAC with a copy of XP in bootcamp. the techies
in the Apple store showed me how to read and write to NTFS from a MAC! I like MSFT but it is becoming less exclusive to me as time goes on. now I can have the best of both worlds.
You aren’t going to run OS X on a machines like this either. The option is linux and MS would be just as happy if people didn’t become used to that OS.
The way the world economy is going, with people losing jobs and homes. It’s not very likely PC users are thinking they can even afford an “upgrade” that forces them to also upgrade their hardware significantly. I think Microsoft blew it, as far as timing this OS’s release. And also making it so onerous to existing hardware. Plus I don’t think it’s been perceived so much as just an upgrade, as it is a brand new OS alternative. There never was an XP SE, you see. And XP users are largely satisfied with it’s performance, and wary of having to learn a whole new OS’s tricks. Then there’s also Microsoft’s ridiculous tiered pricing scheme. Having two versions of XP was bad enough (Home & Pro). But then Vista has three or four?! I just think PC users are tired of playing Microsoft’s dumb games. XP works, users understand it, they’re comfortable with it, it works on any generation of PC, and Vista just isn’t that much better that makes users want to switch. And they probably wouldn’t, if OEMs didn’t force them it on them, to get a new PC.
Plus Microsoft is terrible at advertising. And is in a tough situation of competing with itself. It’s new OS verses it’s old one. If they did an “iPhone” style Tv ad about Vista. What would they be comparing it to that’s inferior, their own XP OS? It’s tough at the top.
finally had to replace my ME machine. The new vista pc seems to have some network issues. My old pc ran my network fine I rebooted once a day and all was well. The vista pc seems to drop off the net a lot. I can reload the page and get it to work but that gets old fast. It does this in firefox and IE? I wonder if down grading it would help? I hate to buy a old OS for a new pc.
#19 – Glenn
>>And they probably wouldn’t, if OEMs didn’t
>>force them it on them
I’d like to see a breakdown of Vista “sales” by OEM-forced-purchase vs. people who actually went out and bought a copy of Vista of their own volition.
I’ve never met (nor have I heard of) anyone who fits into the second category.
I can see poeple passively accepting an OS being forced down their throats by OEMs, but to go out and BUY A COPY? Why?
Late, late, late, late to the party are all of you!
These options have been available for all of the Microsoft OS’s, its been part of the life cycle.
But please, don’t let actual reality get in the way of your bitch sessions.
WELCOME TO ENTERPRISE COMPUTING ! ! !
You guys are just discovering this, even though its been this way since before Windows 2000, and you’re acting like its an emergency decision that microsoft made due to Apple adds or something.
I hope you don’t get your stock tips from the same place. Are you selling???
Microsoft should realize that a good product is one people want to buy, not the next one they want to force on people.
I think it’s rather funny how they insult “netbooks” with the name “budget laptops”, just because they can’t get their behemoth bloatware to run on it.
#10
That’s why I never married. 😉