On Jun 13, 8:52 pm, cheley_bonstel...@xxxxxxxx wrote:
> XP Death Watch
> http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/05/27/XP-deathwatch-T-minus-five-...
>
> Even though it has had its own problems of late, Windows XP remains
> the most-used version of Windows. The newest data from Web metrics
> vendor Net Applications, for example,
> pegs XP as driving 73 percent of the personal computers that went
> online last month,
>
> five times the nearest competitor, Microsoft's own Windows Vista.
>
> Which is why an impending deadline five weeks from today is important.
Don't count on it.
> According to Microsoft, June 30 is the last day it will permit
> retailers and OEMs to sell
> the nearly seven-year-old operating system.
Microsoft may be slitting their own throat. The OEMs are still
negotiating with Microsoft and it's possible that if Microsoft refuses
to deal, or attempts to force the shift to Vista too aggressively,
that the OEMs will respond much the same way that Windows NT server
customers responded when Microsoft tried to force them into switching
to Windows 2003. Instead of being a massive migration worth
$billions, many corporations realized that they were being herded into
yet a another slaughterhouse, and opted to switch as many servers as
they possibly could to Linux, or Unix, including AIX, Solaris, and
HP_UX.
> [ Make your voice heard. Sign InfoWorld's 'Save Windows XP' petition
> today. ]
>
> http://weblog.infoworld.com/save-xp/
>
> You'll have questions as that date approaches,
>
> including whether the deadline will drive up prices (gouging,
> anyone?);
Of course, Microsoft is hoping that it will force a mass-migration to
Vista.
Instead, there is a very good chance that corporate customers, as well
as many retail customers, will end up getting much more interested in
Linux as a replacement for Vista.
Many corporations have already purchased irrevocable licenses to XP/
2000 (licenses that allow employees to install either XP or 2000) for
all of their employees, and these licenses are transferable. This
means that corporate customers might opt to purchase machines with
Linux, then install these XP or 2000 licenses VM clients.
Many corporations may even be ready to "pull the plug" on nearly all
Microsoft PCs, especially if Microsoft tries to "put the squeeze on
them" for more huge payments for the sake of Vista.
Dell may have opted to stop selling XP, but it might be interesting to
see how HP, Acer, and Lenovo feel about this. Microsoft might have a
very hard time getting all 4 OEMs to accept the very unpopular Vista
as the only option.
> , Dell says on its Web site.
>
> www.dell.com
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