A year after Windows XP's death, users keep it alive and kicking
Despite Microsoft's insinuations, the numbers show that Vista's adoption has been poor. But is it time to look forward to Windows 7? ...
Microsoft gives OEMs XP downgrade disks for 6 more months
Microsoft will provide hardware partners with media to let their customers downgrade from Windows Vista to Windows XP for six months longer than it originally planned, the company confirmed Friday. ...
Feature:
A requiem for Windows XP
Today, we bid adieu to Windows XP. Despite an outpouring of demand -- including more than 210,000 people who signed InfoWorld's "Save XP" petition, Microsoft held firm and yesterday discontinued sales of XP in most cases. Sure, any copies of XP in use will continue to run, so the venerable operating system isn't leaving us entirely. ...
News:
Where you can still get Windows XP
Except for whatever copies of Windows are still on store shelves or installed on computers sitting on store shelves, you can no longer buy Windows XP after today. But you can still get XP for new computers, if you're willing to jump through some hurdles. Here is InfoWorld's guide to getting XP now that new licenses are no longer generally available. ...
Editor's Blog:
The final plea to save Windows XP
Last Friday, we FedEx'd the Save Windows XP petition to Steve Ballmer. I have to say that sliding the memory stick into the envelope was an emotional experience: More than 210,000 users have made their voices heard to the world's largest software corporation. I think there's still a slim chance that Microsoft will change its mind about making XP available after today, particularly if we get more major media pickup and another wave of signatures today. Meanwhile, here's the full text of the cover letter I sent along with the petition. ...
Editorial:
Keep Windows XP alive!
The latest reports from Microsoft do not bode well for Windows XP. In advance of the June 30 deadline -- beyond which Microsoft said months ago that it would no longer license Windows XP through most sales channels -- senior vice president Bill Veghte confirmed that the company would halt shipment of boxed copies to retailers and cease licensing of XP to hardware vendors (with some exceptions) after the end of this month. But at InfoWorld, where we've been running a Save Windows XP petition campaign since January 2 of this year, we figure a deadline is a deadline. You still have time to make your voice heard and convince Microsoft to see reason. ...
Tech's Bottom Line blog:
Businesses saying a stronger no to Vista
Hardware costs, driver problems, application incompatibilities, and more -- you've heard the litany of complaints about Windows Vista before, but perhaps you thought IT would roll over and move to Microsoft's new OS as Microsoft expects. You'd be wrong: IT is not moving to Vista, at least not in the numbers the software giant had hoped. ...
News:
More than 200,000 demand Microsoft save XP
In the four months since InfoWorld asked businesses and individuals to sign a petition at SaveXP.com requesting Microsoft keep Windows XP for sale beyond the planned June 30 general end-of-sales date, more than 200,000 have signed up to add their voices. As of May 15, the count was 200,805 signatures, excluding duplicates and fake signups. ...
Tech Watch blog:
The right Vista strategy: Do nothing
Most analyst firms were excited about Windows Vista in 2006, when it was on the verge of being released. But for several firms, that enthusiasm withered as it became clear that Vista is a flawed OS that few users actually want. ...
Tech's Bottom Line blog:
Don't be a cheapskate, Steve. Keeping XP won't hurt Microsoft's bottom line
Virtue may be its own reward when you go to church. But, like it or not, virtue generally takes a backseat to profit in the corporate world. But isn't it nice when the two come together? ...
Editor's Blog:
Steve Ballmer wants your "feedback" -- so let's give it to him
Last week we almost broke out the champagne. At an event in Belgium on Thursday, Steve Ballmer said that the company might reconsider its decision to stop selling Windows XP on June 30. An Associated Press report quoted him as saying: "If customer feedback varies, we can always wake up smarter." ...
News:
Dell to offer Windows XP past June 30 cutoff
InfoWorld has confirmed that Dell will sell and support Windows XP to consumers beyond the June 30 Microsoft sales cutoff date that Microsoft reaffirmed today, after earlier comments from CEO Steve Ballmer seemingly indicated it might reconsider that decision. ...
Tech Watch blog:
Microsoft's XP intransigence is simply mystifying; can Dell save the day?
You have to wonder what's going on a Microsoft when it comes to the issue of keeping XP available past the planned June 30 cutoff date. The company clearly knows that Vista was hardly its best moment, an ungainly OS forced out the door after years of delay so Microsoft would have something new to sell. A triumph of short-term thinking that is turning out to be a Pyrrhic victory. But Dell may offer the face-saving out for Microsoft that also saves XP. ...
News:
Windows is 'collapsing,' Gartner analysts warn
Calling the situation "untenable" and describing Windows as "collapsing," a pair of Gartner analysts Thursday said Microsoft must make radical changes to the operating system or risk becoming a has-been. ...
Notes from the Field blog:
Windows is falling -- run for your lives!
That creaking sound, the dust, that feeling of vague but imminent doom? It's not an earthquake. Your office isn't falling into a sink hole. It's the warning signs of Windows collapsing. ...
Tech Watch blog:
Struggling to find an XP PC? Consider these options
Here's a frustration we can all expect to see increase in the next three months: A reader, Brent Smithline, was trying to get a Windows XP-based PC before the June 30 date after which Microsoft will no longer provide new licenses to retailers and PC makers (white-box system builders have till Jan. 31, 2009 to offer XP). Let him tell the story. ...
Tech Watch blog:
Is Microsoft preparing us to move beyond Vista?
News reports suggest that Microsoft will ship its successor to the unloved Windows Vista "sometime" in 2009. Microsoft has been mum on Windows 7's plans, though late 2009 to late 2010 has been the release date the company has consistently hinted at. So those "Windows 7 in 2009" news reports may mean nothing. Or they may mean that Microsoft is quietly preparing people to move past Vista. ...
Tech Watch blog:
XP for cheap PCs: a second crack in the wall
Microsoft's announcement today that it would keep Windows XP (Home edition only) available until June 30, 2010 -- not June 30, 2008, as originally planned -- for the emerging class of ultra-low-cost PCs (ULCPCs) is the second crack in the wall in Microsoft's pig-headed insistence that it will stop selling Windows XP on June 30, 2008. ...
Enterprise Desktop blog:
Why we still need Windows XP
This week, the blogosphere has been chock full of ranting about Windows XP's impending demise. The confirmation by Microsoft that Windows XP will cease to exist as a commercial product at the end of June has triggered all kinds of commentary, including at least one exhortation to just "let XP die, already!" The problem with this logic is that it assumes there is a viable alternative. ...
News:
100,000 customers tell Microsoft to save XP
Executive Editor Galen Gruman explains the real intent of InfoWorld's Save Windows XP campaign and the stakes involved for business and home users. Will Microsoft listen to 100,000 customers? ...
Test Center analysis:
Death match: Windows Vista versus XP
Does Vista have what it takes to knock XP off the enterprise desktop? Not by our scorecard. Point by point and blow by blow, we offer 10 reasons enterprises can skip Windows Vista and stick with XP. ...
Enterprise Desktop blog
Despite SP1, Vista is still slower than XP
So here I am, sitting in the main terminal at Dubai International, killing time during my six-hour layover by sifting through the headlines surrounding the release Vista SP1. Over at a competitor's site, two prominent bloggers are really going at it, posting contradictory benchmark results that show Vista to be either a) on par with Windows XP or b) much slower than XP on the same hardware. ...
News Feature:
Keep Windows XP until 2009, analysts tell Microsoft
Microsoft should keep Windows XP available until at least 2009, not end the majority of sales on June 30 as currently planned, said analysts at Gartner and The Burton Group. “A good rule of thumb in any OS transition is that you have to have the original and new products available for at least two years to handle customer [migration] needs,” said Richard Jones, a Burton Group vice president and service director. But Microsoft gave customers just 11 months in its original plan, in which new XP licenses would have ended on Dec. 31, and even the additional six months that Microsoft granted when it changed the date to June 30 is not enough, he said. ...
News:
Microsoft responds to "Save XP" petition
A Microsoft spokesperson today acknowledged InfoWorld's petition effort asking the company to keep Windows XP for sale indefinitely rather than drop the popular OS from most sales outlets on June 30 as planned. ...
News:
75,000 demand Microsoft keep Windows XP going
More than 75,000 people have signed InfoWorld’s “Save XP” petition in the three weeks since it was launched — many with passionate, often emotional pleas to not be forced to make a change. On June 30, Microsoft plans to stop making new licenses to Windows XP available through most outlets, though business users and some consumers will be able to “downgrade” to XP after that date under certain circumstances. InfoWorld expects to present the petition to Microsoft when it has collected 100,000 signatures. ...
Test Center analysis:
Vista adoption secrets
Vista adoption in business has been slow (and at this writing more than 75,000 people have signed InfoWorld’s petition asking Microsoft to keep Windows XP available indefinitely). Nonetheless, thousands of businesses worldwide have already adopted Vista. ...
News Feature:
Why people hate Vista
You rarely hear about a new OS causing people to panic. But IT consultant Scott Pam says that's exactly what his small-business clients are doing when they install Windows Vista on new PCs and run smack into compatibility or usability roadblocks. ...
Enterprise Windows blog:
Save XP? Why bother?
I'd love to defend Microsoft Vista against Mac, Linux, or some obscure OS -- but instead, I find myself defending it against Windows XP. That's because all I hear is warring from within the Microsoft community about how unfair it is that they will one day have to stop using XP -- a sentiment perpetuated by InfoWorld's Save Windows XP campaign. First off, no one is forcing you to do anything. ...
» Follow-up blog on readers' response
Notes from the Field blog:
Happy birthday, Vista?
It hardly seems possible, but it was one year ago today that Microsoft foisted Windows Vista onto a wary world. (OK -- OEMs and enterprises had Vista foisted on them in November 2006, but January was the "big launch" for most of us). But instead of the "Wow Starts Now," Jan. 30, 2007 was more like the "When Started Then": When will drivers be available for legacy hardware? When will compatible software show up? ...
News Feature:
How to get Windows XP after June 30
If new Windows XP licenses come to a screeching halt after June 30 as currently planned, what can IT do to get more XP seats? The answer depends on your licensing arrangement with Microsoft. The short answer for most users, though, is that Microsoft will let people with Vista Business or Ultimate "downgrade" to Windows XP Pro under specific circumstances. Here is InfoWorld's guide to how you can get new XP licenses after Microsoft officially pulls the plug. ...
News Feature:
Why save XP? Readers speak out
InfoWorld's petition asking Microsoft not to discontinue Windows XP after June 30 has garnered more than 65,000 signatures since Jan. 14. And with those signatures have come thousands of reader comments that reveal why many IT organizations are up in arms about the June 30 deadline to retire XP. ...
Sustainable IT blog:
Linux a greener alternative to a forced Vista move?
If you read my blog yesterday, you noticed my entry about Microsoft's move to retire XP and effectively force Windows shops into a wasteful migration to Vista. ...
Sustainable IT blog:
Retiring XP means wasteful upgrades to Vista-capable PCs
Every so often, an organization has to refresh some or all of its users' PCs. Perhaps the sales team's laptops are suffering from wear and tear and need replacing. Maybe the finance department requires more powerful desktops to run a newly purchased, resource-intensive, business-critical app. ...
Editor's blog:
Save Windows XP
I vividly remember the first time I used Windows XP. My first reaction: Ugh, these primary colors make Windows look like kid's software. Then I started using it. ...