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How to Get Windows XP After June 30 |
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Written by Daniel
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Wednesday, 30 January 2008 |
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InfoWorld hopes that its petition campaign to save Windows XP will persuade Microsoft to keep selling XP licenses indefinitely. Galen Gruman, InfoWorld
Monday, January 28, 2008 3:48 PM PST
PCWorld Two weeks ago, InfoWorld launched a petition campaign to save Windows XP. So far we've gotten more than 70,000 signatures, thanks to a passionate response from a wide range of XP users.
We hope we can persuade Microsoft to keep selling XP licenses indefinitely, past the June 30 deadline, after which Microsoft has said no more shrink-wrapped or OEM licenses will be available for retailers, computer makers, and others to order. (Vendors can continue to sell by June 30 any XP licenses they ordered from Microsoft, but when they run out of those, they can't get more to sell.)
We fully acknowledge that, even if we get a million signatures, Microsoft may stick with its original plan. If new Windows XP licenses come to a screeching halt after June 30 as currently planned, what can IT do to get more XP seats? The answer depends on your licensing arrangement with Microsoft. The short answer for most users, though, is that Microsoft will let people with Vista Business or Ultimate "downgrade" to Windows XP Pro under specific circumstances.
Here, based on Microsoft's published documentation and on the company's responses to our questions, is InfoWorld's guide to how you can get new XP licenses after Microsoft officially pulls the plug. Note that some of Microsoft's answers to us differ with what has been published on its Web site. Microsoft had changed some of its "downgrade" policies in summer 2007 and appears to have missed updating some of its documents. [More...] [Comment...] |
