If Microsoft has anything to do with it, Windows XP will be dead in a few weeks. I’m not so sure. XP as an operating system was a very solid platform and for many, is still doing a great job. It appears that the only way Microsoft can generate sales for Windows 8 is to offer Windows XP as a sacrifice.
Windows 8 has had a very rough start. Even HP abandoned the idea of moving all of their systems to Windows 8 and redirected their marketing back to Windows 7 when their sales of computers preloaded with 8 tanked. I see 8 gaining some momentum, but only because Microsoft announced the demise of XP.
You have to respect Microsoft’s marketing department, they’ve done a great job of scaring users into upgrading. We are even seeing a windows popup on start up of some XP systems with a link to a Microsoft page pushing an upgrade to Windows 8. Well done! I’m not so sure that I would be proud to be a part of this machine, it all seems rather desperate.
I personally believe that a lot of users will hang on to XP for another year. That will be about the time that they will figure that the risks of running without security updates will be to great. You see, people are tired of paying Microsoft for buggy software that costs them money in IT labor and licensing. Those that do upgrade will either upgrade to Windows 7, simply because it is the last decent OS by Microsoft that still had the familiar start menu or they will simply move on to a cheaper alternative. Some are headed to the land of Mac, where OSX has kept the same familiar interface and solid reputation for years. (I am not a fan of Mac, just a realist). The rest will adopt Chrome books or some flavor of Linux.
Computers have become a disposable commodity, the cost of hardware is so low that replacing systems is easy, until you factor in the operating system, which Microsoft still has priced higher than the price of some systems you can buy at the big box stores. People are migrating to refurbished computers, because they can still get good systems that perform very well with operating systems that they are familiar with for a good price.
Until Microsoft does something about their pricing and become more attractive, people are going to continue to resist the change. Sales of alternative operating systems will rise and Microsoft is in for a long road of failures.
~ Just my opinion…