Opportunity for the little guy
Bill Veghte, senior VP of Microsoft’s Online Services and Windows Business Group (pictured), has written a letter to Windows customers entitled “An update on the Windows roadmap”. In it he offers updates on XP, Vista and Windows 7.
Regarding XP he confirms that 30th June – next Monday – is the “end of sales” date. After that day OEMs will no longer be able to offer it on new systems and you won’t be able to order new boxed product. Microsoft has committed to support XP until April 2014, however. This is a date many in the channel will find depressingly realistic.
From July onwards, people who really want XP have to buy Vista Business or Ultimate and then pay yet more to downgrade it to XP. Veghte attempted to put a positive spin on this in his letter. “This is a great value because it lets you use Windows XP on new PCs today if you need it and then make the move to take advantage of the additional capabilities of Windows Vista when you are ready, without having to pay for an upgrade,” he evangelised.
However, it seems authorised distributors will continue flogging XP until 31st January 2009 and, while anyone can buy from them, it’s unlikely the big OEMs will so this could be a good business opportunity for local system builders. XP Home and Starter will also still be available on sub-laptops, such as the ASUS Eee PC and the MSI Wind.
Veghte then went on to say how much Microsoft is improving Vista but, tellingly, concluded with an update on the progress of its successor – currently known as Windows 7. He said: “our plan is to deliver Windows 7 approximately 3 years after the January 2007 general availability launch date of Windows Vista.”
He also made this pledge: “You've also let us know you don't want to face the kinds of incompatibility challenges with the next version of Windows you might have experienced early with Windows Vista. As a result, our approach with Windows 7 is to build off the same core architecture as Windows Vista so the investments you and our partners have made in Windows Vista will continue to pay off with Windows 7.”
He seems to be saying that Microsoft will ensure Windows 7 doesn’t have the same problems as Vista by basing it on Vista, but maybe we missed something.
Related reading: Windows XP - the OS that refuses to pass quietly into the night
