Windows XP Turns 10 Tomorrow

With its best days behind it, Windows XP will turn 10 in less than a day, tomorrow, October 25, 2011. 

XP not only managed to survive against all odds for the past decade, but dominated the operating system market like no other platform.

Released on October 25, 2001, Windows XP was developed under the codename Whistler, and was actually released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001.

Counting from the RTM deadline, XP has already been 10 years old for a few months now, since it was at the end of August 2011 that the code went gold.

Still, October 25 is considered the official birthday of the OS, and Microsoft is bound to celebrate it along with the impending retirement of this platform.

The software giant is building Windows 8, but it’s also urging customers not to wait any longer, and make the jump to Windows 7 as soon as possible.

The company already sold in excess of 450 million Windows 7 licenses in less than two years. It had taken it over four years to push some 400 million licenses of Windows XP.

Meanwhile, Windows 7 still has to reach its watershed moment, while XP’s apex is a thing of the past. Microsoft has stopped selling Windows XP for years now, even though copies can still be found from various sources.

XP’s longevity certainly ensures that this operating system will have a prominent place in history, but fact is that the platform’s life is far from over.

Provided that customers have SP3 installed, they can still enjoy support from Microsoft until April 2014, at which point the company will pull the plug on this product.

Although, understandably, upgrading from XP to a more recent release of Windows would feel like parting with a very old friend, users need to understand that they’re running an obsolete operating system and that they’d benefit from increased security, productivity, support, etc. by embracing Windows 7.

Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) RTM Build 7601.17514.101119-1850 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) RTM are available for download here.