‘Lease of life’ for Windows XP

Bangalore, July 10

It’s like one of those ‘last reel’ reprieves where a rider arrives galloping, on a sweaty horse, and flourishes a pardon, even as the noose is being placed on an innocent victim’s neck.

Microsoft, which signed the death warrant for its popular PC operating system Windows XP, told a Worldwide Partner Conference on Wednesday that it had decided to bow to popular demand and would continue to offer technical support for XP, including updates and patches, right up to 2014. However, it has stopped selling XP proactively after July 1.

To persuade corporate users to switch to its new operating system, Vista, Microsoft has created what it calls the “Windows Vista Small Business Assurance” site (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/assurance/default.mspx), replete with case studies of small enterprises which made the switch. It promises free support till end October, for new machines bought with Vista, but the service is being initially tested in the US only.

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