Comments were made earlier in the month by one of the general managers of Microsoft’s Windows groups about just how long Windows XP will hang around (especially given the rise of netbooks/sub-notebooks), now Steve Ballmer is talking about Windows XP and just how long (and whether) it’s going to hang around.
Quoting Steve Ballmer/CNET:
“XP will hit an end-of-life. We have announced one. If customer feedback varies, we can always wake up smarter, but right now, we have a plan for end-of-life for new XP shipments,” Ballmer said during a Thursday news conference in Belgium, according to Reuters.
Big-name computer makers are still scheduled to have to stop selling models with Windows XP installed by the end of June. Mainstream technical support will continue to be available for Windows XP through April 2009, and more limited support will continue through April 2014.
Microsoft does plan to continue selling Windows XP for a limited class of PCs it calls “ultralow-cost PCs.” It’s a category that covers machines with slower processors, smaller screens and, in many cases, flash memory, rather than a traditional hard drive, for storage.
Articles:
– CNET
– ArsTechnica also has some comments about Ballmer.