On XP

The tanker begins to turn. Microsoft have announced an extension for XP on the desktop following their earlier move to extend XP for UMPCs. Now I’ve been predicting the death of the desktop. Maybe I’m wrong but if they do survive it will be in this lighter shape, not Vista powered behemoths.

All they are doing with this move is recognising reality. PC manufacturers were using a loophople in the Vista licence to downgrade to XP, or as PCs PR lady puts it ‘upgrading to a more familiar experience’. By doing this MS has de facto readopted XP by acknowledging it as their OS of choice for stripped down PCs. They didn’t want to do it but the threat of Linux taking over this rapidly growing market was too horrible to contemplate so this is the least worst option.

Of course the real problem with doing this is that extending XP indefinitely means the end of Vista. Now this is the right move but it’s like having to admit the car you just bought is worse than your old one, you don’t want to do it but that is where MS is currently stuck. Using XP for everything and leaving Vista in the garage.