Aware of the Eee's Linux OS - and so is Microsoft
Martin,
I haven't got a blind spot about Linux - Aweb runs on it and we have covered it on Aweb for many, many years (though it's still very much a minority interest for finance applications). Simon Hurst and I have reported on the Eee's progress since last year and are aware that it was a huge success with Linux pre-installed.
Microsoft was obviously aware of that fact too, which would explain why it has gone out of its way to keep XP (Home Edition) alive - so that it can grab a piece of this sector. What I meant to indicate was that Asus would be unlikely to launch an XP version of its machine in April if it knew that the operating system was being retired at the end of June.
Sorry if the way the article was worded gave you a different impression.
John Stokdyk
Technology editor
AccountingWEB.co.uk
Enough plot twists to run for years...
Kevin, the deeper you dig into the issues, the more complicated they get - which illustrates the great mysteries of Microsoft marketing.
On the face of it the nettop XP announcement is perfectly clear - Microsoft will require PC makers to stop preloading Windows XP on new machines after June 30, 2008, unless they are building ultra low cost PCs that can't cope with Vista.
But with Vista taking a pummelling and enterprise customers refusing to budge from XP, Microsoft is spinning itself into a double helix around the issue of "downgrade" rights. M3 Sweatt, the chief of staff of the Windows Core Operating System Division recently attempted to clarify the company's policy in a blog posting that explained that "downgrade rights" have existed for OEM versions of Windows since 2001. That means that Vista Business and Windows Vista Ultimate licences supplied through most PC manufacturers can be downgraded to XP.
Microsoft will continue to provide free support for XP until April 2009. Extended support for which users have to pay will continue until 2014.
There are copious links in Sweatt's blog to reference materials and further discussions on the subject - if you are able to discerne any more illuminating insights from the material, do come back and let us know... I've got to go off and complete a piece on analytical software as a service, where mercifully such licence complications no longer apply (for now, at least).
John Stokdyk
Technology editor
AccountingWEB.co.uk
Does this apply to PCs as well as notebooks?
John, could you clarify whether the XP extension is for notebooks only, or will the listed manufacturers be able to put it on PCs as well.
A 5 year old rant from Bill Gates ....
Has anything really moved forward with M$?
http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/microsoft/archives/141821.asp