27. The end of XP is near

The imminent death of Windows XP keeps coming up and if you are looking to buy a new computer, such as an XP netbook (or whatever you now like to call the "sub-notebooks"), this year, you would need to know how long it should still be serviceable. Of course, if Microsoft had had its way, XP would be long gone by now. But the arrival early last year of the Linux-based machines forced them to change their policies, and offer a cut down version of XP, at a much lower price. And to be honest, I cannot see the difference between the XP on my old Sony Vaio and the cut-down version on my Samsung sub-notebook.

The Microsoft website does not seem to provide answers. But Wikipedia (which Microsoft does monitor) offers the following: "However, an exception was announced on April 3, 2008, for OEMs installing to ultra low-cost PCs (ULCPCs) either until June 30, 2010, or one year after the availability of the next client version of Windows, Windows 7—whichever date comes later."

XP in Wikipedia