Windows XP Will Be Around for a Long, Long Time
Precisely a week ago, Redmond-based software giant, as part of the Patch Tuesday program, rolled out 4 security bulletins that addressed a total of 5 vulnerabilities that plagued the Office productivity suite and the Windows operating system. The July 2010 Patch Tuesday was accompanied by another important announcement – Microsoft stopped supporting Windows XP SP2.
Now that fact that Windows XP SP2 expired doesn’t mean the Windows XP operating system is out of the picture. You forge that there’s still Windows XP SP3 (Service Pack 3), which will be supported until April 2014. As a matter of fact, XP SP2 users are well advised to upgrade to SP3 if they still want to keep getting security patches for the operating system, for Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, Outlook Express and other Windows XP components.
You also forget one other thing – Windows 7. What does the latest iteration of the Windows operating system, Windows 7, have to do with the old but popular Windows XP operating system? It has plenty to do with XP. Microsoft announced that it will allow Windows 7 users to downgrade to Windows XP at any point during Windows 7’s lifecycle.
As long as Windows 7 is sold by OEMs, customers who purchase Windows 7 PCs with end user downgrade rights will be able to downgrade to Windows XP. The sales lifecycle of Windows 7 will end two years after the release of the next version of Windows, which we have no idea when will be released.
“We have decided to extend downgrade rights to Windows XP Professional beyond the previously planned end date at Windows 7 SP1. This will help maintain consistency for downgrade rights throughout the Windows 7 lifecycle. As a result, the OEM versions of Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate will continue to include downgrade rights to the similar versions of Windows Vista or Windows XP Professional. Going forward, businesses can continue to purchase new PCs and utilize end user downgrade rights to Windows XP or Windows Vista until they are ready to use Windows 7,” commented Windows Communications Manager, Brandon LeBlanc.
The bottom line here is that Windows XP will still be around for a long, long time. Keep in mind that the operating system was rolled out to the public way back in 2001.
Now that fact that Windows XP SP2 expired doesn’t mean the Windows XP operating system is out of the picture. You forge that there’s still Windows XP SP3 (Service Pack 3), which will be supported until April 2014. As a matter of fact, XP SP2 users are well advised to upgrade to SP3 if they still want to keep getting security patches for the operating system, for Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, Outlook Express and other Windows XP components.
You also forget one other thing – Windows 7. What does the latest iteration of the Windows operating system, Windows 7, have to do with the old but popular Windows XP operating system? It has plenty to do with XP. Microsoft announced that it will allow Windows 7 users to downgrade to Windows XP at any point during Windows 7’s lifecycle.
As long as Windows 7 is sold by OEMs, customers who purchase Windows 7 PCs with end user downgrade rights will be able to downgrade to Windows XP. The sales lifecycle of Windows 7 will end two years after the release of the next version of Windows, which we have no idea when will be released.
“We have decided to extend downgrade rights to Windows XP Professional beyond the previously planned end date at Windows 7 SP1. This will help maintain consistency for downgrade rights throughout the Windows 7 lifecycle. As a result, the OEM versions of Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate will continue to include downgrade rights to the similar versions of Windows Vista or Windows XP Professional. Going forward, businesses can continue to purchase new PCs and utilize end user downgrade rights to Windows XP or Windows Vista until they are ready to use Windows 7,” commented Windows Communications Manager, Brandon LeBlanc.
The bottom line here is that Windows XP will still be around for a long, long time. Keep in mind that the operating system was rolled out to the public way back in 2001.
