Windows XP still an option as support ends today
With three options for users of Windows business still plans on using Windows XP as support officially ends today.
Windows XP was introduced in October 2001 and became wildly popular as it showed dramatic improvement from Windows 2000, it’s predecessor. Microsoft released Vista in January 2007 and saw immediate blow back from users. Now with the beta version of Windows 7 in release users are starting to see that Windows can be improved and tcommenting that W7 is, “The OS Vista should have been”.
A new Information Week survey shows that 83% of companies still plan on staying with XP until 2011. This is the smae scenerio Microsoft faced as they rolled out Vista. This is all happening as Windows XP’s support ends today, April 14th.
In the past number of years users have switched the Apple OS X operationing system while buying new Macs and there has even been an inching up of Linux, the free open source operating system for PCs. Linux’s rise in popularity may also reflect the price of Windows being too expensive for some business.
Along with the economics, compatibility was cited as a reason for delay in migration. Even after 2011 only 42% of the business in the Information Week poll said they’d use W7 after 2011 and 17% said they would wait until 2014.
Although Microsoft has not made it’s release date official, watchers are estimating that Windows 7 will be released late in 2009 or early 2010.