Microsoft backtracks, extends XP availability to 2011

From InfoWorld: On Tuesday, Michael Silver of Gartner took Microsoft to the woodshed over the company's decision to let computer makers sell PCs with Windows XP for only six months after Windows 7 debuts.

Silver blasted the idea as a "real mess," and said that it would make it more difficult for companies to manage their PCs and more expensive to upgrade them to Windows 7 down the road.

Because of Windows 7's Oct. 22 launch date, the six-month cap meant that OEMs would have to stop shipping PCs "downgraded" from Windows 7 Professional or Windows 7 Ultimate to Windows XP Professional at or around April 22, 2010.

That policy put enterprises in a bind, Silver argued yesterday. "For an organization that's trying to skip Vista, that means they really need to buy new PCs that they need to run on XP, and want to upgrade later to Windows 7, by April 21, 2010," Silver said.

"[But] since a lot of organizations won't be ready for Windows 7 until later in 2010 or even early 2011, any PCs they buy from April 22, 2010 on, and until they are ready to deploy Windows 7, would need an upgrade license or [Software Assurance] to allow them to run Windows XP temporarily, and upgrade to Windows 7 later on," he said.

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