Microsoft decided to extend the support for Windows XP to full 13 years. This is 3 years longer than it has done for any of its previous Windows operating systems. Microsoft is doing this because the infamous Vista is being rejected by companies and individual pcs and Windows 7 will not be released anytime soon. The earliest released date for Windows 7 is slated for January 2010. Microsoft also promised to provide security patches and updates to Windows XP until 2014.

Many large businesses have avoided upgrading to Windows Vista, which has been plagued with widely publicized problems, including incompatibilities with drivers for legacy hardware and applications. Upgrading to Vista could also be very expensive for enterprises that would need to upgrade older hardware. Many businesses and individuals have opted to buy Windows XP on new PCs.

While June 30 remains the cutoff date for selling Windows XP, retailers such as Dell are still selling preconfigured PCs with XP. And enterprises with volume licensing contracts will still be able to install XP even on new machines.

In addition, Microsoft has promoted a licensing loophole that allows new hardware buyers to purchase Windows Vista and then downgrade it to a previous version of Windows. Microsoft has cited such purchases as evidence of support for Vista, but many Web postings have disputed that.

Microsoft will also continue to sell a version of Windows XP to makers of low-cost computers through June 2010. Such machines as the Asus Eee PC are incapable of running Vista and the alternative would be for the makers to install open-source Linux as the operating system.

Source: Yahoo news

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