Microsoft had initially planned to kill off Windows XP on June 30 2008 and later made an extension to July 31. The deadline has officially been extended to January 31, 2009. Microsoft’s move follows continued demand and sales for Windows XP. The downgrade option is available only by purchasing a PC with Windows Vista (which explains Microsoft’s great Vista sales figures – everyone buys Vista and then downgrades).
One has to wonder what exactly is Microsoft’s strategy in this: spending $300 million on the Windows ads, promoting Vista, and now extending deadline of Windows XP. To make matters worse, (or better?) Windows 7 is expected some time soon, and many users are eagerly awaiting it so that they can forego Vista.
My thoughts (in this post) have been to skip Windows Vista and jump directly to Windows 7, expected some time in the next three years.
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