People wishing to run Windows XP PCs will still be able to
obtain the operating system after it is officially dropped, even
though from 30 June it will no longer be available to purchase from
major retailers, Microsoft has confirmed.
From this date PC hardware makers will stop pre-installing new
PCs with Windows XP and retailers will no longer stock Windows
XP.
Microsoft has confirmed that users will be able obtain the
software from smaller hardware suppliers selling XP when they
build a custom PC for a user.
Jared Proudfoot, group program manager of microsoft support
lifecycle, said, "System builders will continue to be able to
obtain XP through 31 January 2009."
Although the next desktop operating system,
Windows Vista, has been
available since January 2007, some businesses have found that not
all applications are compatible with it. These organisations have
continued to buy new PCs with Windows XP.
Businesses that want to stick with Windows XP can buy Microsoft
Vista, which allows them downgrade Vista to Windows XP, providing
they still have a copy of the original Windows XP CD-ROM.
Windows XP may not support modern hardware, which means
businesses will need to continue running older PC hardware, and so
miss out on recent performance and energy efficiency
developments.
Desktop virtualisation using software such as XenServer from
Citrix or VMware, may be one way forward.
"Citrix users can preserve older operating systems and
applications. Virtualisation provides a way to deal with the Vista
incompatibility problem by allowing users to defer upgrades as
necessary." said Dale Vile, managing director of IT analyst
Freeform Dynamics.
Microsoft will continue to offer mainstream support for Windows
XP until April 2009, after which time there will be five years,
until 2014, of extended support.
However, businesses wishing to continue running Windows XP will
have to move onto the latest service pack, SP3, which Microsoft
made available in May.