I'd Like a Copy of Windows Vista "XP Edition," Please
Microsoft (MSFT) has extended the availability of Windows XP nearly as many times as it has extended the ship dates of Windows Vista and Office 2007. The company had planned to cut off XP sales through the retail and original equipment manufacturer channels on Jan. 30, 2008, one year after Vista’s debut. But the poor reception given the new OS and “feedback” from XP advocates gave it pause to reconsider. So Microsoft adjusted the deadline to June 30.
Which makes today XP’s last on the retail market. From now on, if you want to run Windows XP on a new machine, you’ll need to purchase Windows Vista and then “downgrade” to its predecessor, which Microsoft will continue to support until 2014.