Microsoft sets 6/30/08 deadline for sales of XP Operating System
Microsoft appears to be sticking with its announced deadline of 6/30/08 for sales of their Windows XP O/S. There is a grass-roots effort to convince Microsoft to extend that deadline, and despite Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s comments in Belgium that “If customer feedback varies we can always wake up smarter, but right now we have a plan for end-of-life for new XP shipments," the company has yet to budge on the June 30th deadline. (see this link for more details.)
What does this mean for you? eMazzanti Technologies will be able to order PCs for clients with XP Professional for some months to come. If we see any change in that policy, we will send out an alert to our client base immediately.
The deadline does seem to indicate Microsoft’s determination to phase XP out in favor of Vista, but with a little planning, businesses can time their equipment refresh schedules to keep XP as their predominant PC O/S for long enough to ensure they won’t need to switch to Vista until it’s a more mature product.