Yet another Windows XP reprieve

In Monday's IT Blogwatch, Richi Jennings watches Microsoft change its already-changed mind about Windows XP's availability deadline -- does this give a clue about the Windows 7 schedule? Not to mention Dell's Photoshop disaster...

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols tries not to gloat:

Microsoft will never admit that Vista was a major mistake, but ... out of the public limelight, [it's] enabling white-box computer manufacturers to keep selling XP well into 2009.

What Microsoft is doing this time is its letting the smaller distributors and OEMs ... place their final orders for Windows XP OEM licenses by Jan. 31, 2009, and take delivery of those orders through May 30. For you, that means you'll be able to keep buying XP Pro on your PCs well into the fall of 2009. You may need to ask for it, you may have to pay more, but it will be available.
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Want to bet that Microsoft will extend its XP Pro deadlines again? I'm dead sure they will unless they get Windows 7 out by then.

Kevin McLaughlin and Scott Campbell broke the story:

A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed the existence of a flexible inventory program that will allow distributors to place their final orders for Windows XP OEM licenses by Jan. 31, 2009, and take delivery against those orders through May 30 ... They won't have to [pay for] the reserved XP licenses until they're sold to an end user.
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It's yet another sign of the market's resistance to Windows Vista, and of the growing realization within the channel that many customers have decided to simply skip Vista and wait for the arrival of Windows 7.

Eric Krangel ossifies:

Microsoft throws the struggling PC industry a bone ... One likely reason: XP is seeing a second life of sorts as geeks flock to small, relatively weak laptops -- so-called "netbooks" -- which are mostly used to access the Internet and have no reason to run XP's bloated successor, Vista. All ten of Amazon's top ten netbooks ship with XP.

Dell will also sell you XP on its other PCs for an extra $150. It'll now be able to do that for a little longer.

Mary-Jo Foley clarifies with, "Another point worth noting":

The new reprieve doesn’t seem to apply to vendors of low-cost PCs or netbooks. Microsoft is already offering makers of these systems a later XP cut-off date (June 30, 2010 or one year after Windows 7 ships, whichever comes later).
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It should be interesting to see what the channel does if there’s a gap of a few months between the XP delivery cut-off date and Windows 7 availability. Will they continue to avoid preloading Vista on new custom PCs and wait it out for 7?

Ron Schenone is mostly valuable:

No matter which side of the fence you sit on when it comes to Vista, Microsoft is still confirming that some are still resistant to make the switch ... It seems that Microsoft is still aware of the fact that their operating system Vista is still not the popular system it had hoped it would be.

Zach Epstein sees both cloud and silver lining:

This is definitely not what Microsoft had in mind when it launched its recent $300mm ad campaign. In what can only be described as a coup for distributors, Microsoft has given in to the pressure ... This is no doubt viewed as a major check in the loss column within Microsoft - the company has been pushing Vista in full force lately in the hopes that it might reverse the negative connotations carried forth by Apple’s marketing and the bad tastes left behind from a bumpy launch.

On the bright side of things, Microsoft can likely look forward to some massive XP license orders in early Q1 2009 that will help get its calendar year off to a flying start. Sure this likely isn’t Microsoft’s optimal situation but hey, in this day and age beggars can’t be choosers.

Harry McCracken steps up the reactor power input three more points:

Windows XP was theoretically replaced by Windows Vista almost two years ago now. But many, many people still prefer to buy computers loaded with XP than with Vista. That’s surely not a reality that Microsoft is very happy with, but it’s one that it has to deal with.
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I’m glad that there are still quiet, convoluted options for people who want XP to get it. But wouldn’t it have been cool if Microsoft had taken the opportunity to openly reconsider XP’s fate and simply extend sales for all comers? Wouldn’t it have gotten the company tons of favorable publicity? Doesn’t it make sense, as a rule, to give your customers what they say they want from you if you possibly can?

David Hunter releases the hounds:

It is all more of the continuing fallout from Windows Vista’s less than sterling reputation, a problem that Microsoft hopes to cure with the delivery of Windows 7.

The new May 30th cutoff lends more credence to the rumors that Windows 7 may actually arrive in mid-2009.

And finally...

• Dude, You're Getting A Pink Slip

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Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/adviser/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and spam. A 23 year, cross-functional IT veteran, he is also an analyst at Ferris Research. You can follow him on Twitter, pretend to be Richi's friend on Facebook, or just use boring old email: blogwatch@richi.co.uk.

Previously in IT Blogwatch:

• Cut cables? Conspiracy conjectures! (again)
• Windows for Submarines has now "shipped" (sorry)
• Critical IE patch now available: go get it!