Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils - Hector Berlioz
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Microsoft extends support life of XP
MICROSOFT HAS PROMISED to provide support services for its soon-to-be-retired Windows XP until 2014 because too many of its key business users are still running the ageing OS.
This will mean that Vole will be continuing to support the software 13 years after it first appeared on the shelf.
Microsoft senior VP Bill Veghte wrote to users this week saying that Vole will provide security patches "and other critical updates" for Windows XP until April, 2014.
The communication admitted that the reason Microsoft had to extend the service of XP was because "people keep their Windows-based PCs for many years".
Until now, Microsoft's policy has been to kill off any support for an OS a decade after its first release. Windows 2000 is going to be scrapped in 2010.
What is more likely is that many of Microsoft's enterprise customers have been leaning on the company to extend the time. Most of them do not want to upgrade to the lacklustre Vista and are still shelling out fortunes for XP.
Microsoft has also been offering a downgrade programme from Vista which will need to be serviced. µ
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This is a non-story:
http://www.hescominsoon.com/archives/892

The April expiration for XP has been part of the plan since 2005.
We who are a secret society known by us to be The Order of The French Fried Potatoes, know of the secret curse that the wicked witch of the DRM, Eula has prophesied: 'SP21 will result in XP rearranging the letters in it's registry to create an anagram which will read: "I am Lord Vole d'Mort".'
After rebooting, the GUI Wizard, Who's-Name-Must-Must-Not-Be-Muttered, will take control of all WANds, and will Xmake them into proper "Dark Xobjects" with "Dark Xlinking" and "Dark Xembedding." After this restore point, the world will be left to parsel-tongue one muggled-pagefault, at a time.
for XP will live on via torrents and TinyXP distributions... :)

arguably the best way to install XP on any home computer. no look, every device included, and all the XP hacks I would have done myself (ie. TCPIP max connections) already installed. Really, what more do you want?
If your intrested in installing XP on computer this Fall, You'll have to BUY XP Soon, as microsoft stops selling CD Rom in 5 days. Yet, if you BUY O/S & its long ago done NT5 kernel, you can keep it on shelf till Jan,2009 before installing. Then its NOT OEM/Retail box thru 2014, just some reinstall.
von Drashek
despite retreating one generation in OS development, because they have no competition. 

Imagine what would happen if someone like Intel made a mistake like that (arguably they did) AMD would be all over them (arguably they were) or vice versa (arguably the situation now).

But for MS its business as usual, more handwaving, comforting smiles, reassurances and a round or two of Redmond golf.

We still have no reason to believe they have understood what people want out of an OS. I am not looking forward to whatever they have planned next. The best thing I have seen from vole was the cut down minimalist OS that was shown off during that lecture on volish OS history. 

Normally any other company running like this would be ripe for takeover, but with Microsoft noone could afford the price tag. But if that is the situation then a real opportunity lies in competing, lets hope someone takes up the gauntlet and er... runs with it, soon.
I hope this will also result a Windows XP service pack 4 :D.