Windows XP What happens to XP after June 30?

They don't lock it down.
It'll only be available OEM, or to people who've already bought it (or until it's out of stock)

or as an illegal download lol

it will only be available pirated,ofcourse the updates will go on...

yeah, updates will continue till around 2012. Meh, looks like i better stock up on XP licenses if I want to have a business selling old laptops...

i have an activation bypass for all version of xp that microsoft cant trace. if you want i ill compress it and mail it to you.

^^ That probably wouldn't be a good idea, even if untraceable.
It's for a business, you've gotta be 100% legit.

Yep. So sounds like I'd have to bundle the computers with either some linux distro, or raise the price to include 512MB to install Vista basic.

Microsoft has further extended the life of Windows XP so that computer makers can include the operating system on low-cost desktop PCs, the company announced at the Computex trade show on Tuesday.

Read more at http://www.nytimes.com/idg/IDG_852573C4006938804825745D0035EE3E.html?ref=technology

I also found that you can just downgrade from Visso Vista Basta it seems, and not only to XP, but to Windows 95 if you wanted to.

I know Paul Thurrott received an email from soneone that was asking for an apology from him about that now they are going to lock XP so that you can't activate it anymore, and that your forced to move to Vista, so clearly, there is a lot of FUD about this. Oh well...

I still see that you can get an OEM copy of Windows XP, so it doesn't really change a thing. Seems like you can also buy Windows Vista Buisness, and downgrade to Windows XP Pro, Windows 2000, or even Windows NT 4.

Matt said:

I still see that you can get an OEM copy of Windows XP, so it doesn't really change a thing. Seems like you can also buy Windows Vista Buisness, and downgrade to Windows XP Pro, Windows 2000, or even Windows NT 4.

Click to expand...

Yeah, so you can follow the route of building the computer yourself, and get an OEM copy of XP.

u could install linux, its open-source (free) my recommendation would be ubuntu

Matt said:

I also found that you can just downgrade from Visso Vista Basta it seems, and not only to XP, but to Windows 95 if you wanted to.

I know Paul Thurrott received an email from soneone that was asking for an apology from him about that now they are going to lock XP so that you can't activate it anymore, and that your forced to move to Vista, so clearly, there is a lot of FUD about this. Oh well...

Click to expand...

XP Can be activated by any manner of means -- not all legal -- seriously guys unless you HAVE to have it just move on.
W7 will run on quite modest hardware. Use a Virtual machine for old XP legacy stuff that really won't work on W7.

I've finally retired my Win XP 64 machine - replaced with W7 X-64 build 7077 -- it's fine. I was going to keep it but the latest builds of W7 are so good I just decided to bite the bullet and change now.

I still need Windows XP to run some old legacy hardware which is totally incompatable with Windows 7 ( and also with Windows Vista) such as an old NIKON photo film scanner, a canon flatbed scanner, an old HP Plotter, and a Minidisc fast CD==>Minidisc burn application. These all run fine on a Windows XP Virtual machine -- this will last for years --don't need any updates etc etc.

Dual booting is a pig --don't do it unless you really have to. There might be some old Video editing apps which won't run on W7 and for this you need the REAL hardware so a VM won't probably work either.
Firing up a VM is easy, fast and convenient -- you don't even have to stop what you are doing on your HOST machine either.

cheers
jimbo

just read that in the oem channels ms will support xp thru 2014

i think it will be available, but only by illegal means. i would like to have it, and use for next few years...
i hope atleast i am able to update it from the site for next few years. i ahve shifted to vista, but still feel that XP was really good!

Just continue to use it if you have it.

Can one not just continue to use their current copy of XP for as long as they desire whether it is "supported" by Microsoft or not? I was using Windows 2000 until less than 2 years ago and I am about to reinstall it on two of my computers because a couple of programs that I want to continue to use run sooooooooooo much smoother on 2000 than anything since. As long as I have a legitimate copy of the OS (or application) I am allowed to continue to use it. (If the copy is a pre-installed OS on a purchased computer, you may only use that copy on that computer, but you may do so as long as you desire. )

As much as I like Windows XP, I strongly feel it is time for it to go the way of the Dodo bird.. I believe Windows 7 will be the XP Killer!..

Radenight said:

As much as I like Windows XP, I strongly feel it is time for it to go the way of the Dodo bird.. I believe Windows 7 will be the XP Killer!..

Click to expand...

There are still people on windows 98 ! So I guess windows die hard .