Windows XP: The OS That Won't Die?
The six-year-old operating system's continued popularity has nearly
exhausted the supply of product activation keys.
Gregg Keizer
Computerworld
Friday, August 10, 2007 02:00 PM PDT
http://www.pcworld.com/printable/article/id,135848/printable.html
Microsoft Corp. has had to create a new build of Windows XP Professional
for computer makers because the six-year-old operating system's continued
popularity has nearly exhausted the supply of product activation keys.
The new build, dubbed SP2c, includes no fixes or feature changes, but was
created simply to address the shrinking pool of product keys. XP Pro SP2c,
which has been released to manufacturing, will be made available to OEMs
and system builders next month, said Microsoft.
"Due to the longevity of Windows XP Professional, it has become necessary
to produce more product keys for system builders in order to support the
continued availability of Windows XP Professional through the scheduled
system builder channel end-of-life (EOL) date," wrote the Microsoft system
builder team on its blog Thursday.
Previously, Microsoft has set Windows XP's EOL for retailers and OEMs
(original equipment manufacturers) as Jan. 31, 2008, and for small-scale
systems builders a year after that.
"SP2c will be released into the System Builder channel in September to
provide system builders with a new, extended range of product keys," the
system builder team said. The updated build applies only to Windows XP
Professional; XP Home, for instance, is not affected.
The move shouldn't come as a surprise; Even Microsoft has predicted
continuing strong sales of Windows XP. Last month, the company's chief
financial officer said that he tweaked the fiscal year 2008 forecast to
account for XP's longevity. Rather than count on an 85/15 split in sales
between Vista and XP, said Chris Liddell, Microsoft now expects a 78/22
split, an increase of nearly 50 percent in anticipated XP sales.
Other signs of the not-dead-yet OS's vigor have included retreats by OEMs
like Dell Inc. from earlier Vista-only policies. In April, for example,
Dell again began offering Windows XP as an option to consumers. It had
already done the same thing for small business customers.
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George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
