Despite an outcry from users who still prefer Windows XP over Vista, Microsoft announced that, as of today, it will no longer sell XP. Rather than allow customers the choice to simply buy and install XP, Microsoft’s strategy is to force them to buy and install Vista before being allowed to “legally downgrade” to XP.
I’ve written before about the sub-market that formed after Vista’s release where some computer stores were doing a brisk business uninstalling Vista and installing XP in its place. In addition, many Windows users decided to upgrade from older versions of Windows to XP instead of Vista.
It would appear that Microsoft’s marketing strategy to improve Vista sales is to “innovate” its foolish customers away from XP and to Vista “for their own good” until Windows 7 can be brought to market sometime in 2009. Of course, if we’ve learned anything from history, it’s that Microsoft never delivers on schedule.
So if you’re one of the folks unhappy with Vista, you might want to grab a copy of XP while they’re still readily available. Or better yet… (Nope, I won’t even say it.)