Windows XP not dead yet, says system builder

Puget's XP sales jumped from one or two standalone OEM licenses a week to five or six each day as the June 30 deadline approached. "Microsoft's done a big favor for system integrators like us," Bach said, referring to the extra seven months of XP availability. "[But] it's also a way they can accomplish what they want to accomplish, which is to get the majority of the market to Vista [while] limiting the Vista backlash by letting system integrators continue to sell XP."

XP-equipped computers have stayed "fairly stable" at around 30 per cent of the systems Puget sells, Bach said, although there have been ups and downs. At Vista's launch in early 2007, for instance, XP sales dropped; they picked up, however, as some users were disappointed in the newer operating system. The debut of Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) in February again spurred Vista sales.

"There's a lot that can happen in the next seven months," Bach said, predicting that Microsoft will revisit its XP availability rules before then. "They've already extended availability of XP Home to small laptops," he added, talking about the April decision to let makers of inexpensive notebooks like Asus Eee 900 continue to factory-install XP Home until June 30, 2010.

"A lot will depend on perceptions about Vista [in the next seven months] as well as Windows 7 and its availability," Bach said.