RIP Windows XP: June 30th?

Microsoft announced recently that their most famous operating system, Windows XP, will no longer be available as of June 30th, 2008. According to their press release, “Windows XP will no longer be available for purchase from Microsoft for general retail and OEM partners as of June 30, 2008.” But is that necessarily the case? According to PC World, the answer is no.

It’s true that Microsoft will no longer sell XP itself nor will it sell any more copies to its partners after June 30th of this year. However, if any retailers are smart, they will more than likely stock up on XP before the cutoff date which will ensure that customers can buy it after June 30th.

There’s also another major loophole in Microsoft’s “RIP XP policy” that PC World has uncovered. The loophole is also known as “downgrade rights.” According to PC World, the downgrade policy “will allow people to get Windows XP on new PCs, even after computer makers’ stock of Windows XP licenses runs out. An OEM such as Dell can sell you a PC that starts out with Vista Business or Vista Ultimate on it, and then downgrade the operating system to Windows XP Professional before shipping the machine out to you.” The hidden beauty in this is that the new buyer will have a copy of XP as well as a copy of Vista if he/she ever decides to upgrade.

The downgrade rights will only work, though, if the OEMs have purchased this policy from Microsoft. So, if you’re like thousands of others who plan of buying a new PC in the near future, but don’t want the hassle of Vista, you need to do your research to ensure you can get still buy Windows XP. Otherwise, we will all need to pay homage to the death of Windows XP on July 1st, 2008.