Analysts tell Microsoft to keep selling XP till 2009
Don’t take XP off those shelves too soon, the analysts are telling Microsoft. It seems that the June 30 cut-off date for new XP licenses will still be too soon for most customers.
InfoWorld’s got the gist of why analysts are saying that Microsoft needs to keep XP around at least until 2009. An interesting quote from Burton Group’s Richard Jones: “A good rule of thumb in any OS transition is that you have to have the original and new products available for at least two years to handle customer [migration] needs,”. Jones, a Burton Group vice president and service director, said that current Microsoft customers were given just 11 months and even the additional six months granted later wasn’t enough.
Jones also speculated that Microsoft’s aggressive transition schedule was due to Vista’s delayed release, depriving it of earnings. “Microsoft is up against a rock, with Vista coming out seven years after XP’s release. But it’s their fault it took seven years,” quipped Jones, adding that users shouldn’t have to bear the brunt of Microsoft’s internal delays.
Despite saying that XP needs to be kept around longer, analysts from Gartner and Burton Group agreed that users should be prepared to make the switch eventually. The problem is right now, businesses need more time to get their applications and systems up-to-date to handle the new OS.
Is waiting around to see if Windows 7 is better than Vista a good idea? No. By the time it ships (probably by 2011), XP users will be outside the service window and businesses cannot afford to be left vulnerable security-wise.
Al Gillen, a research vice president at IDC had some good advice to share – he said businesses should instead buy Vista Business or Ultimate on new PCs, even if they choose to use the special ‘downgrade rights’ for those versions to go to XP Pro. These rights will allows them to upgrade to Vista later without needing to buy a separate Vista license. Sounds like a good delaying tactic – buying Vista but not having to use Vista…yet.
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