Windows eXPired just won't die, not even for Windows Vista. Additionally, Microsoft seems to be losing faith in its latest Windows title. This would explain why the Redmond company is still breathing life into XP, although the strategy is clearly detrimental to Vista. Following Vista's release, Microsoft was in a rush to declare XP expired. Still, the company failed to put its back into it. Microsoft relied on Vista's Wow to make XP obsolete instead of marketing it accordingly. But leaving XP to wear out naturally, in the growing shadow of Vista's evolution backfired. While there is a consistent amount of efforts poured into converting users from XP to Vista, there are little results to indicate success. Not only are both home and corporate users failing to upgrade/migrate to Vista from XP, but the rate of downgrades increases in consistency with each passing day. And on top of that, XP is still preferred over Vista, prompting Microsoft to extend the availability of its 2001 Windows operating system.

"While we've been pleased with the positive response we've seen and heard from customers using Windows Vista, there are some customers who need a little more time to make the switch to Windows Vista. As it turns out, our official policy as of 2002 is that versions of Windows are available through our retail and direct OEM partners for four years after they ship. Obviously this policy didn't work with Windows XP given Windows Vista's delivery date. As a practical matter, most of our previous operating system releases were available for about two years after the new version shipped, so maybe we were a little ambitious to think that we would need to make Windows XP available for only a year after the release of Windows Vista," revealed Mike Nash, corporate vice president, Windows Product Management.

The end of Windows XP availability via direct OEM and retail licenses was planned for January 31, 2008. Microsoft revealed that after taking in feedback from customer and original equipment manufacturers, it has extended XP's life with an additional five months. The company made sure to emphasize that Vista is doing great, although end users and PC builders are still interested in a five year old operating system (XP was launched at the end of 2001), vs. Windows Vista, released in January 2007. XP will be available from large PC manufacturers worldwide until mid 2008, while XP Starter edition will come preloaded on machines put together by System builders until June 30, 2010. The prolonging of XP's direct OEM and retail license availability is of course connected with the launch of the first Service Pack for Windows Vista, scheduled in Q1 2008.

"So we're responding to feedback we have gotten from our OEM partners that some customers will benefit by extending availability of Windows XP to June 30, 2008 instead of the planned date of Jan. 30, 2008. Also, since some of the systems that ship in emerging markets don't meet the requirements for Windows Vista, we will be extending availability of Windows XP Starter Edition to June 30, 2010. This will allow our OEM partners who sell PCs in emerging markets more opportunity to offer genuine Windows licenses. Windows XP Starter Edition is tailored to local markets, in local languages, and is compatible with a wide range of Windows-based applications and devices", Nash added.