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Microsoft has given you lucky, lucky people ten more years of downgrade rights to Windows XP. Buy a PC pre-installed with Windows 7 Professional and you can now downgrade to Windows XP until 2020. Yes, this is the third time Microsoft has extended the deadline. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers experience déjà vu àgain.
Your humble blogwatcher selected these bloggy morsels for your enjoyment. Not to mention the "unoriginal" World War II show...
(MSFT)
Gavin Clarke has the 411:
Before today, Microsoft said that after ... [early] 2011 customers buying Windows 7 would no longer be able to downgrade to Vista and XP. But the company has now removed the deadline. ... Up until March ... revenue for Microsoft's Windows client business was lagging compared to the same period during 2009.
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Extending the downgrade option on Windows 7 means that Microsoft can still claim the Windows 7 sale ... while letting customers continue to use the software they like until they're ready to move.
Devin Coldewey adds:
Im still rocking XP myself, and see no reason to do otherwise, though I have heard fine things about Windows 7. ... Sure, why not? Who wants to retrain their employees? ... But even Microsoft didnt plan on XPs durability.
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Microsoft originally planned to let people ... downgrade to Windows XP for up to six months. Then they extended that deadline for a year. And now theyre extending it for ten years.
And Harry McCracken channels William James Murray:
Ive lost track of how many times its announced a final deadline ... and then extended. ... It long ago began to feel like Groundhog Day. ... January of 2020 [is] more than eighteen years after XP shipped, and should be enough of a stay of execution for almost everybody. ... Anyone who thinks that he or she has a firm grasp on what computing will be like by then is either a whole lot smarter than I am or a whole lot dumber.
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A smart move on Microsofts part. ... Now its a non-issueand tech journalists like me get to stop writing stories about XPs fate for almost a decade. Cool!
Microsoft's Brandon LeBlanc is "humbled by the amazing Windows 7 momentum":
Our business customers have told us that ... removing end-user downgrade rights to Windows XP Professional could be confusing... managing a hybrid environment with ... different end-user rights based on date of purchase would be challenging to track. ... Maintaining a more straightforward policy would help.
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Businesses can continue to purchase new PCs and utilize end user downgrade rights to Windows XP or Windows Vista ... throughout the Windows 7 lifecycle.
But does Neville "jangles" Hobson damn with faint praise?
As someone who has embraced Windows 7, I can say ... that it is the best operating system Microsoft has produced since, well, Windows XP. ... A dilemma for Microsoft if youre happy with Windows XP, why choose any other flavour of Windows?
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Looks like another decade of use and support awaits you.
Richi Jenningsis an independent analyst/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and security. A cross-functional IT geek since 1985, you can follow him as @richi on Twitter, pretend to be richij's friend on Facebook, or just use good old email: itbw@richij.com.
