Microsoft to finally throw XP out of Windows on June 30
May 13, 2008 – 11:59 amIf you are planning to buy a computer with ’Microsoft Operating System (OS) XP, brace up to shift to Vista. Microsoft XP will go off the market from June 30. Buyers may gripe about the additional investments in new hardware for the Vista OS, but not much choice for them. Vista will come pre-installed with their branded machines. Ditto for enterprises, and they will have to spend time and money in training employees on the new software.
About a year back, Microsoft announced that Windows XP would be going off the market from January, 2008. XP was later given an extension to June 30. That deadline is approaching and Microsoft insists that there won’t be any more extensions.
Microsoft India Windows Client Business Group director Prasanna Meduri told ET, “XP will seize to exist. Though there is a policy for specific segments, XP won’t be available for OEMs and general retailers from June 30. For system builders (assembled market), there’s an extension of six months. And for new market segments like low-cost PCs (priced below Rs 20,000) XP will be available till June 30, 2010.’’
Basically what this means is, if you plan to buy a low-cost computer, you can get XP (the hardware won’t be robust enough to run Vista’s various features) till 2010 and if you buy an unbranded machine you get XP till January 31, 2009. But if you buy a branded computer that costs more than Rs 20,000, you will have no choice but to take Vista. Interestingly, the low-cost PC for which Microsoft has extended XP availability till 2010 comprises less than 5% of the market.
Says Gartner principal research analyst Diptarup Chakraborti, “Enterprise adoption of Vista has been low as cost of migration is an issue. Also, there has been a perception problem with Vista. For full impact of Vista, you need 2 GB RAM. However, cost per MB of RAM has come down and Vista offtake will increase across enterprise and consumer segments.’’ According to hardware body Mait, the installed base of computers was 25 million as of March 2008, and last year 7.25 million computers were sold. Says Mait executive director Vinnie Mehta, “The market is growing at about 15% a year. Lot of people now prefer laptops while the market potential for low cost PCs is very low.’’
From June 30, Microsoft will stop selling XP but for the existing market `mainstream’ support will be available till 2009 and extended support till 2014. Microsoft claims that there are already about two million Vista users including enterprises and individual buyers. Says Meduri, “There’s more Vista momentum in India than anywhere else.’’ Citing examples he adds that Infosys Technologies has migrated 4,500 desktops to Vista, TCS has 3,000, Centre for Railways Information Systems (IT arm of Indian Railways) has 1,500 Vista desktops, Madhya Pradesh Water Restructuring Project has 700, L&T has 2,500 Vista desktops besides NIIT, Kraheja Corp and a few others.
Zenith Computers MD Raj Saraf says that while cost of components has come down, taking care of the hardware related issues with Vista, training users on the new OS will make enterprise adoption slow. However, Vista’s enhanced features could make the pain of migration worth it.
Source: TOI
