InfoTech: rumours of the death of XP may be exagerated

Just last week, Microsoft announced that you will use Vista. OEM versions of XP will no longer be shipped after 30 June and customer versions of XP Pro (already difficult to find in some markets) would not last much longer.

But in the face of widespread condemnation of the decision, particularly from corporate clients who are unwilling to risk a switch to Vista, that decision may be revised, according to the Reuters' report.

Microsoft somewhat strangely announced SP3 for XP will be made available shortly - but that it will be slightly delayed from its originally scheduled release date. In this way, the company demonstrated that it intends to continue support for XP's installed base for the foreseeable future. It has, however, a history of ceasing support for its operating systems including Windows 95 and 98 which still power many machines in the developing world. It has even stopped security patching Win95.

Bullmer reportedly told a conference this week "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."

So here's a question: if those of us who still prefer Windows 2000 to XP, much less Vista make enough noise, will MS also give us what we want? Or is this a recognition that Vista is proving to be a PR nightmare for MS.

The real question is whether MS really is likely to listen to customers - or whether, in the words of the Dalek or Borg (depending on your allegiance) "Resistance is Futile."