Windows XP Refuses to Die

Despite earlier promises from Microsoft that XP would stop selling in January, consumer demand has forced the company to extend its life five months.

It’s rare that a company has to forcefully kill off a product that continue to sell, but that’s exactly what Microsoft has planned to do with Windows XP in order to spur sales of its newer Windows Vista operating system. The trouble is, not everyone’s happy about it: Consumer feedback has prompted Microsoft to stay XP’s date of execution for five months.

With the release of Vista, Microsoft originally stated that Windows XP would continue to sit on store shelves and appear in new computers until January 30, 2008. With that date quickly approaching, the company announced yesterday that the new date would be June 30, 2008, due to clear feedback from “customers who needed a bit more time.”

Microsoft corporate vice president Mike Nash made it clear that consumers and manufacturers alike weren’t all ready to switch. “We were a little ambitious to think that we would need to make Windows XP available for only a year after the release of Windows Vista,” he said in a statement.

Once June rolls around, there will still be exceptions. Microsoft will continue to offer Windows XP Starter Edition for ultra-low cost PCs until June 30, 2010.