Microsoft will never admit that Vista was a major mistake, but it was. People who tried it, hated it. Businesses have stuck with XP, or are moving to Macs or desktop Linux. Microsoft knows it too. That’s why Microsoft is, out of the public limelight, enabling white-box computer manufacturers to keep selling XP well into 2009.
What Microsoft is doing this time is its letting the smaller distributors and OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) — not the major PC vendors like HP and Dell — place their final orders for Windows XP OEM licenses by Jan. 31, 2009, and take delivery of those orders through May 30.
For you, that means you’ll be able to keep buying XP Pro on your PCs well into the fall of 2009. You may need to ask for it, you may have to pay more, but it will be available.