Microsoft: no more Windows XP on new netbooks after October 22, really
By Donald Melanson 
posted June 11th 2010 3:51PM
posted June 11th 2010 3:51PM
It's easy to lose track of the number of times that Windows XP has been proclaimed dead, but it looks like this particular cut-off date is indeed the real thing -- Microsoft is now reminding OEMs that they'll no longer be able to install Windows XP Home on new netbooks after October 22nd of this year. The venerable operating system could all but disappear from new netbooks well before then, however, considering that Microsoft itself notes that a full 81% of netbooks sold as of April of this year shipped with some form of Windows 7 pre-installed. There are still some Windows XP-based netbooks floating around out there though, so snap one up while you can if you don't feel like reverting back to the OS yourself.
Yay!
@R2 D2 Agreed! Win7 is great! :)
@R2 D2 I'm a huge proponent of W7, and am running it on my netbook, TinyXP Rev09 beats it in bootup time and uses less disk space.
We need someone to tweak a W7 install like that.
@R2 D2
When it's all said and done I wonder what the dollar figure in profit MS made on XP is. Must be equal to the budget of some large countries!
@Maeztro
...at the expense of Vista sales.
@Eli Haj
Windows 95 didn't have the capabilities to do what an average user needed in 2005. I'd say that Windows XP does, even though it's 9 years old. I'm sure that the security is much better and I've seen the fantastic interface, but it's a bit different. A Win95 user in 2005 is using a dinosaur. An XP user in 2010 is just annoyed.
Typed from my XP machine at work
@Armchaircritic Actually outside of netbook sales, M$ actually forced you to pay $99 extra for XP downgrade rights, essentially selling you a license for both, so XP was making them money in addition to Vista sales. Even with netbooks being sold with XP, they're still making money by selling you an operating system so it's somewhat irrelevant.
@R2 D2
Windows Vista (after Service Pack 1) was a great OS. I just bought a laptop for school next year with Windows 7. Windows 7 is an amazing operating system. I love it. I also love when people tell me "You should've gotten a Mac" haha
@R2 D2
I'm so happy I made it to Windows 7 without ever owning a Vista machine. My old Compaq Presario P4 laptop I bought in 2005 is being held together with duct tape, hasn't seen a battery since 2007 and is on it's third hard drive but we made it.
Will go laptop shopping when the back to school deals come out at the end of the summer.
@Armchaircritic Plus it had to make up the huge development costs of vista, which were hundreds of millions of dollars.
Who needs XP anymore? Win7 is the best Microsoft OS I have ever used, by far.
@tosvus
I disagree, personally. Windows XP is still a lot better in some regards. There are too many things from XP that I miss in 7.
@CaryHiroyuki Tagawa
Such as?
@CaryHiroyuki Tagawa
I know, I miss the Fisher-Price buttons too, but you can have it however you want if you install a custom theme.
@admlshake such as a functional Display dialog that doesn't need me clicking everywhere to get what I want, no cryptic BCDEdit, no windows defender, no bundled action center, no WinSxS, defragmenter with graphic progress, paint without useless ribbon, default administrator privs (a good thing for superusers), superspeed SuperCache is XP only, no bloated gadgets library, possibility of nLite, and a heap more RAM for programs, not the system. Oh and if you haven't noticed already, the XP IME is much, much faster for asian languages than that on 7.
@admlshake
1) A phenomenally better (but perhaps slower) search function.
2) Viewing the stats (like "size") of the current directory without selecting everything.
3) A smaller taskbar that doesn't look like KDE (which I hate).
The operating system just runs faster.
4) Non-gigantic, minimalist UI. The 'classic' theme doesn't seem that usable to me in 7 due to the annoying taskbar. You can't use Windows Aero with the Classic UI either.
5) Old games that don't even work with Windows 7's XP compatibility mode.
I also agree with blland.
I never used the fisher price buttons, I used the "classic" theme colored how I wanted it.
I've been using Windows 7 since the release candidate came out. I like Windows 7, but I wish I could get some of my old features back.
@blland Windows Defender is optional, auslogics disk defrag beats the built in one w/ is easy to disable, paint sucks use paint.net its free, W7 has superfetch, you don't have to run gadgets, they have vLite is the same as nLite, RAM management is much better in W7 which is also a much better 64bit version and no need for 3rd party apps. I don't know about moonspeak though, could be right on that.
@admlshake
For some reason, my window placements dont ever seem to stay.
File copy and directory navigation also seem faster on the more mature XP.
@CaryHiroyuki Tagawa Taskbar->Properties->Use Small Icons
@User Formerly Known as Dave
Err... not sure how I missed that, lol. Thank you!
@CaryHiroyuki Tagawa
2) Right Click Background of directory -> Properties
5) Most games I have which are old enough to run in XP but not 7 can be run in DOSbox. If not, get Win7Pro with XPMode
@Kikarok
"Right Click Background of directory -> Properties"
Let me clarify. In Windows XP, I would see the entire size of the current directory with all files in it, and the number of files... in the little minimalistic status bar in Explorer. What I DON'T want to do is use Right-Click=>Properties. I would rather it was displayed immediately without me selecting the files, or checking the folder's properties. :)
@CaryHiroyuki Tagawa
And by the same token, reasons to use Windows 7:
1. Faster search feature (I like getting to my stuff instantly)
2. Nicer UI
3. Being able to drag a window up to maximize it as well as other similar features
4. The new Superbar
5. Better multi-touch support (more of for those with touch-screen monitors, but it's still nice)
6. DirectX 11. Your argument is now invalid. Anyone who thinks that tessellation isn't awesome needs professional help.
OH THANK GOODNESS. Now we can move on to happier, modern times.
Consumers really need to move on by now. There is no good reason to cling to XP anymore.
Bye XP, you served us well. Enjoy the Florida weather you old pal.
@shishi Hey I live in Florida and I'm 22 :) how about we tell the old people to move somewhere else lol
Netbooks, your still here.
@Seanlee83
Those are the un-dead, zombie netbooks. The iPad killed them all, remember? ;-)
So long XP, you been a good pal. 7 is here to stay.
XP provided badly needed shelter from the Vista shitstorm. Windows 7 has brought clearer skies and we can finally put XP to rest.
Fare thee well, XP.
@grayskul
lol you never used vista.
@Peter F I've got a 1-year-old Vista desktop machine and a 1-year-old Ubuntu netbook. Why is my less-powerful netbook faster than my desktop?
I don't know what kind of pixie dust people are sprinkling on their Vista computers to make them work "just fine", but I want some.
Windows XP is now 9 years old. It's still a decent os, but windows 7 is just better. I can't really vouch for the starter edition of win7, though.
@MastrCake Whenever people say Windows 7 is better they never state any ways in which it is better. There's a key way in which it is substantially worse then XP and that's the dumbed down, inconsistent, inefficient interface.
69% of Windows users still use XP so clearly people aren't rushing to Windows 7. I'm still running XP on my Phenom II X6 1095t and when they stop supporting XP I'll switch exclusively Linux. Most of the software I use already runs on Linux (Open Office, Firefox, Thunderbird, MPlayer, Tight VNC etc). I'll leave Windows 7 for people who are impressed with flashing visuals while I'll enjoy the usability GNOME offers.
@Frith I wouldn't recommend upgrading an old computer to W7. The manufacturer optimized its drivers for XP, and many manf's abandon support after X-years. On a NEW computer though, the number of improvements to XP are too much to list here, there are websites if you google.
We do need a nice vLite tweak of W7 though similar to the trusty TinyXP Rev09.
@Frith
You want some reasons why I enjoy using Windows 7 over XP? I'll give you 10!
1. Jump lists
2. Improved taskbar
3. Faster wake-up from sleep
4. Better power management
5. Easier networking
6. Faster than XP running identical hardware
7. More secure
8. More aesthetically pleasing
9. Windows Snap (I use it all the time as a student to put windows side-by-side)
10. More Reliable (for me, at least)
So, there you have it, 10 (hopefully) compelling reasons why I prefer Windows 7 to XP.
And can you please explain how the interface is worse than XP? I personally like it better.
@Frith _ Lol, what?
http://marketshare.hitslink.com/os-market-share.aspx?qprid=11
Win7 is going at a steady 2% per month markshare growth. By the end of this year it will hold one third of the global OS market share. It`s the fastest growing OS in HISTORY.
Have fun with your GNOME anyway, lulz.
@MastrCake -
+1 , and lest not forget, superior video quality (i`m talking about Blu Ray / HD) to any other OS thanks to EVR (Enhanced Video Renderer), not tha POS VRM9.
@GreenEyez What's that? An argument why anyone should use windows (7)?
People who use something because everyone else uses it are called 'sheep'.
@MastrCake
Media Center is also rock solid in Win 7. I make great use of it with my TV tuner, hooked up to cable digital.
Microsoft has done a great job with 7.
Lets hope everyone doesn't run as Admin!
@Excalibur Superuser all the way.
@Excalibur
UAC will probably save a lot of asses.
Let's hope everyone doesn't disable it.
@sphbking The people that can figure out HOW to disable UAC are the ones that don't need it.
Its really just good for grandma.
@Ducman69 You're telling me that there are people who don't need UAC?
Tell me that when a program auto-runs with administrative rights and hijacks your computer. I've had programs autorun more than once that shouldn't have (thank you UAC for stopping those bitches)
@YuriTenshi How would an application autorun without any user intervention? I know Safari is vulnerable to carpet bombing, but firefox most of the time will even warn you before visiting a fishy site, and as far as I know the malware always requires some kind of user intervention or changes on default security levels.
In any case, considering how many machines I have, how heavy a user I am (I mean browsing, not the eating hotpockets playing WoW non-stop fatass), and fact I've been running W7 w/ UAC disabled since the first beta build was available, I've got a good track history so far. :)
About time.
I loved XP but after Windows 7, I can't use anything else.
I'm hating my workplace's XP cuz I can't aero snap (but I keep on forgetting and drag windows to top and sides).
I love how right after Windows 7 came out, people were swearing up and down about taking their XP away. Now? "Good riddance!"
@AndrewNeo
You seem to be forgetting that most people are not part of the hive mind. . The majority of those who have upgraded beyond XP no longer have any use for it, and thus it does not matter to see it go.