Will Windows 7 finally kill off Windows XP?
Windows XP is the operating system that literally refuses to die. It was released in 2001, has already been succeeded once, by Vista, and yet continues to be the Microsoft OS of choice for most people. Will Windows 7 finally manage to kill XP off and persuade those hanging on to it with both hands to finally let go?
Let’s be clear about this: Windows XP is still number one. The eight-year-old OS still holds a 60 percent market share, even though it’s now starting to show its age. Vista completely and utterly failed to knock Windows XP off its lofty perch, so what are the chances Windows 7 can do any better?
Microsoft is mighty keen for Windows 7 to not only sell well, putting the complete failure of Vista to set the world alight behind it, but also to persuade both home users and businesses to finally move onwards and upwards from Windows XP. Mainstream support for the aging OS has already ended, and all resources are now, rightly, being channeled into making Windows 7 the operating system Vista isn’t.
Until now, the netbook market was ripe for Windows XP to dominate because of its low hardware requirements, but lower end versions of Windows 7 have been built with netbooks in mind so even that lifeline is slipping out of XP’s grasp.
It’s not as though consumers are intensely loyal to XP for any sentimental reasons, it’s because until now there hasn’t been a viable alternative for most people. Vista had its chance and blew it within six months. Apple Macs are too expensive for the mainstream. And Linux isn’t user-friendly enough for anyone who doesn’t know how and why their computer does what it does.
So Windows 7 has to be it. If the new Microsoft OS has a relatively pain-free launch, with the positive reviews continuing into its first few months then I suspect XP’s time may well be up. But that’s a big if. Even with that being the case it’ll still take a good few years for those machines still happily using XP to fade out and die.
So, as Information Week puts it, although Windows 7 is likely to kill XP off in time, the release of the new OS is really only just the beginning of the end. An end that was always inevitable.
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July 20th, 2009
Most buyers of PC’s never upgrade the OS. It has nothing to do with capable is Vista or how old is XP, its about money. Many millions look at paying for an OS upgrade to be a money pit, so just wait a buy a new PC and use whatever OS comes with. Despite what YOU seem to think and would have readers believe Dave, seriously, the masses of people don’t CARE what generation of Windows is on their PC when they buy it, they just want a “PC” or a “Mac”. They are buying into PC and whatever version of Windows comes on it is what they get, they just don’t care. And once bought they never upgrade it until they can buy a whole unit replacement.
July 20th, 2009
Win7 will not kill XP . Win7 will mainly replace vista on PC + new PC’s which will come pre-installed. If Microsoft wants to replace XP it should build an upgrade version xp -> win7 taking into account old hardware\drivers and applications, and running those in XP-mode automatically without user intervention.
July 26th, 2009
Hmm netbook OSes?
Linux, anyone?
When is Linux gonna get some lovin’?
July 26th, 2009
I agree with DavidB and ilev. I have Windows XP on my desktop, notebook, and netbook. I never wanted an upgrade to Vista even with the hype. If Microsoft wants XP users to upgrade to Windows 7, it should be provided at a reasonable price to existing XP users.
August 5th, 2009
May XP live forever.
If you like XP and hated Vista, then you will really hate Windows 7 with a vintage.
Windows 7 is just lipstick on a pig(Vista)
Very bad looking lipstick at that.
You can hardly customized the explorer interface to work more like XP.
I would of thought Microsoft would have learned their lesson with Vista.
It looks like each new operating system since XP is getting worse then the last one.
I think Microsoft is getting too old. Starting to get like IBM.