Microsoft gives XP an extra two years to live (kinda)

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/03/microsoft_extends_xp_shelf_date_for_ulcpcs/

HEh heh:
Microsoft was first wary of allowing anything less than Vista pre-installed on these tiny laptop computers. But when initial units started shipping with Linux, there was a rapid change of heart.

"One thing we’ve heard loud and clear, from both our customers and our partners, is the desire for Windows on this new class of devices."

..like a top...
Still..nice to see consumers exerting some pressure.

 

Hello,
You linked to a wrong article... about Brazilian developer and Vista Creative drivers...
Mrk

 

Thanks Mrk - Link corrected.

As for part of the underlying topic - the ULCPC (ultra low cost PC) market - this brings some interesting drivers to the fore. Obviously, the "reprieve" given to XP for this specific segment represents something of a reconsideration and is probably a reflection of the reality that while raw machine horsepower is always inching up, a side impact of that upward march is that new categories such as ULCPC will appear at the more modest "legacy" performance levels with a clear product lifecycle and revenue impact.

Actually, I'm thinking of picking up one of these devices at the moment. Not sure if it will be an Asus or if I'll wait to see what else appears on the horizon. Not sure if I'll go with Linux or WinXP either - although probably the latter due to legacy application software.

Blue

 

ah thanks, I need a minder...up since 0100 this am...now 2300 here...and it aint over yet..paged again..

hhmmm?

 

The Asus Eeepc gives you the choice, you can buy one with linux or with xp

 

Or just go dual boot with Linux and XP. That's what I've done on my desktop and Linux (Ubuntu 7.10) is filling at least 90% of my needs

 

That could be pretty tough on a standard 4gig EEEpc. You'd have to get the larger capacity model or else do what i did and install the second OS on an SD card.

 

Yikes, that is small! I didn't realize the drive was only 4 GB. In that case, how would XP even by itself fit on that?? Even nLited i can't imagine how that could be done, unless few or no other programs are installed.

 

Hello,
Default XP, nothing removed, installs on a 2GB drive without problems.
Mrk

 

and on a quick look, some geeks are even working on putting (and apparently succeeding reasonably well) OS X on the Eee PC.

It looks to be an interesting platform for a lot of my desires/needs - which is something between a PDA (tried but never got into the hieroglyphic text enty BS) and a full laptop (want something smaller than the 12" mobile laptops), but at a nice low cost point.

Blue

 

Blue

have you tried one of those PDA with a full qwerty keyboard sliding out?

 

No - conceptually, it seemed to embody the worst of both worlds (PDA vs laptop). If I was going in this direction, I'd just use my iPod Touch as a general PDA.

If I were to try to capture my "ideal", it would probably be something along the lines of a Kindle on steroids that was more tablet PC and less passive electronic book. The Eee PC has the right physical size (think typical meeting/business notebook for quick note entry that doesn't suffer a multiminute wait to logon) and looks OK some other characteristics as well. Still scoping out the basic category since there's a birthday coming up )). If I were to hazard a guess - and the costs are right - an Asus Eee PC with the newer/larger screen, 8G SSD/1-2GB RAM looks right.

Blue

 

On paper sure, but throw in SP2, all the critical patches, swap file, then install a few programs and all that space is fill up in a hurry, even with system Restore and some of the default MS installed apps removed. I suppose with a spartan setup it's possible but not very practical, for sure.

 

Hello,
I'm talking SP2 with all the patches and all... It is indeed spartan, but if you have spartan hardware, then you go with a spartan install. You can't really expect someone to install Office 2007 on such a PC, can you? Which brings a question why an office suite should be so bloated?
Mrk

 

You are right Mrk. I've just not used to ever seeing anything less than ~ 4GB when I'm done installling XP The Office.org built into Linux is sure a nice alternative to to MS' offering

 

Wait for the next revisions of the Eee laptop: GPS, bigger screen and resolution, 1 GB of RAM by default, etc.
Also, the Eee is starting to get competition from MSI, ECS, HP and others.

 

I had the same thought. The current 800x480 screen is a little sparse. The 900 series is projected to be 1024x600 or something similar. The HP 2133 looks interesting as well (1,366x766 display), I just wonder what the release price and spec will be (and whether Vista is still a target OS for it).

Blue

 

AFAIK, none of these vendors have plans to support Vista in this market segment.
ECS G10IL

 

An answer to this topic's title:

AFAIK, Microsoft's Windows XP Pro for me will last up to and potentially well beyond their next O/S release be it Windows7 or whatever clever name they fashion for it, because it already is quite formidable in comparison to Vista IMO and security vendors for XP are at an all time peak in security innovations designed for XP and in some case vista.

I think XP users are safe as can be even if $M stopped support yesterday.

XP is proven to hold it's own very very good, for now, and for the foreseeable future.

 

Vista Home Basic and Vista Business are available options for the HP 2133
PC MAG review

 

And a review by the folks at NotebookReview

 

According to PC Magazine

" Bill Gates said on Friday he expected the new version of Windows operating software, code-named Windows 7, to be released "sometime in the next year or so."

It will start to get complicated -XP-Vista-7

 

I wouldn't wager my farm on that announcement if you value the roof over your head.

Still, XP will continue to more than hold it's own very well for the foreseeable future thank you.

 

I was just reading somewhere on a Microsoft site that it will probably be three years before the release of Windows 7. The info was from a blog from ms developement. But I can't tell you how to get back there I was just looking around and stumbled upon it.

 

Ho Hum! And so the saga goes on.