Despite Microsoft's best efforts, Windows XP is the operating system that just won't seem to go away. Seems as sticky as DOS 3.3 was back in the day. Microsoft's officially cut ties with selling new copies of XP but PC manufactures can still downgrade new Vista PCs to Windows XP until June of 2009. Microsoft just extended that date from January 2009 until June 2009.
Is the "I'm a PC" and Windows Mojave advertising even making a dent in bettering Vista's market penetration? Not by much has to be the current assessment. Pretty soon it all won't matter much, as XP users will just upgrade to Windows 7. Some speculate that's actually true, believing Microsoft essentially already hinted this is going to happen.
A direct jump from Windows XP to Windows 7 is an option that's still quite a ways off. Windows 7 is supposed to be out in early 2010 but we all know there's a pretty good chance Windows 7 will get pushed out. Windows Mobile 7 OS couldn't even ship on time so how would a full desktop OS be able to make such a date. As my wife says to me "could happen" when she's not fully in belief of one of my predictions.
We're essentially looking at a 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 years for Windows 7 to come out. I expect XP to still be alive and well, powering many organizations desktops, just like Windows 2000 has hung around for quite some time. The question is will Vista ever go mainstream and become the standard of Windows OSs. Even though I've converted my business fully over to Vista, I think XP will be here with us for quite a long time.
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