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Microsoft Extends XP For Low-Cost Laptops
Ian Lamont writes "Microsoft says it will extend the sales of Windows XP Home to OEMs by several years, but it's not in response to the SaveXP petition. Microsoft is supposedly making the move in part to ensure that Linux doesn't dominate the market for certain types of 'ultra-low-cost' laptops. XP will be available for OEMs until June 30, 2010, or one year after the availability of the next client version of Windows, whichever date comes later. This greatly extends the earlier XP deadline of June 30 of this year (which was an extension itself), and means XP will potentially be installed on new computers nearly a decade after its original release. The author of the article suggests that the post-June 2008 release of Atom-based laptops encouraged Microsoft to extend XP, even though Intel says Atom can support Vista. Intel also claims that 'Moblin' Linux will be available on Atom-equipped mobile devices starting this summer."
What issues does Vista have after SP1?
You mean other than the insane hardware requirements,
A Ghz-class CPU, 1GB RAM and a $30 video card is "insane" ?
the general slowness,
Doesn't seem any slower than OS X. Or Ubunut, for that matter.
requiring special hardware to be able to do HD (even though there's no technical reason why it should be required),
It doesn't require special hardware to do HD. You're lying.
and no benefits over XP unless you count the machine running slower?
UAC, search, better utilisation of hardware resources. That's just off the top of my head.
No one is going to wait a whole decade. Three or four years is a long time for hardware makers who have waited patiently for the treadmill to kick out Vista. They have been seven long years without a sales bump. They are not going to wait a whole decade for Microsoft to have a winner on hardware they have to sell. They see those Asus sales now and want a chunk. They also know that chunk is going to cut into whatever they might make instead.
Just look what free software can do with this equipment now. Especially, check out Compiz Fusion clips, which looks as good or better than you can get with Vista on much heavier hardware. Is that "good enough" yet?
It took Microsoft seven years to ruin Windows with digital restrictions and other user hostile stuff. Do you think they can fix it in three or four? Will anyone care by then? I don't think so. You might be right if you think "ideal" and "freedom" mean nothing to people but brand loyalty means far less. The world is tipping quickly towards free software.
No calls now, I'm