If you haven’t heard, XP will continue to be supported by Microsoft until 2014.
What this means to you:
Will you be able to buy Microsoft Windows XP until 2014?
No. After this month you won’t be able to buy a license outright. What it means is that patches and updates will continue to be delivered thru Windows Update until 2014.
Will you see a Service Pack 4?
Originally I was of the opinion “No way, no how, SP3 is the last one”. But now with support extended until 2014 (6 years from now if you don’t want to do the math), that actually does permit enough time for another service pack to be released. Will it occur? Probably not. But I wouldn’t be surprised if it did.
Should you use XP until 2014?
ABSOLUTELY NOT. No one should use a 13-year-old operating system as a primary means of computing. However I would say you’re more than okay using XP until Windows 7 is released if you plan to stick with Windows.
You can purchase OEM licenses until December 31, 2008; major manufacturers are not allowed to sell/ship systems with an OEM XP license after June 30, 2008.
Many small businesses will be selling their own ‘white-box’ systems with OEM XP licenses likely until the end of the year, and those that sold the OEM copies separate from a system will likely continue to do so for the same time-frame.
Yeah I guess I should have been more specific and said “You won’t be able to be a retail license outright (as in off-the-shelf)”.
And yes it’s true that there will still be enough white-box sales to go around until the end of ‘08 for OEM licenses.