Jon Bach

Windows XP was released in October 2001 and is now approaching the end of its life, and yet there are still great numbers of people that strongly hold to this operating system. Microsoft has created a real mess in the industry with Windows Vista. On its release in January 2007, most major manufacturers dropped Windows XP from their products, only to add it back months later at the demand of their customers. In June 2008, major manufacturers lost the option to sell Windows XP, though smaller system builders remain able to sell it to this day.

I am one of these system builders. To this day, Windows XP makes up 50 percent of the operating systems my company sells. Each and every day, people come to us, and tell us about how their biggest request is that they not be forced to use Windows Vista on their new computer.

There are two problems rapidly approaching these customers. The first is that Microsoft is starting the process of halting Windows XP production.  Final orders from distributors were taken last month, and final shipments will be in July. This means that availability of Windows XP will deteriorate as July approaches, at which time you won't be able to find it available for sale at all. 

The second problem is that, even if Microsoft were to continue production, Windows XP is still doomed to wither away because it is 32-bit and can only see an average of 3-3.5GB of system memory in modern computers.  To use more memory, a 64-bit operating system is needed. Windows XP does have a 64-bit version, but hardware driver availability is so poor that the OS is rendered virtually unusable. With a great majority of new computer systems shipping with 4GB of memory or more, Windows XP simply can't service modern hardware. 

This trend is seen very clearly in our sales of  Windows Vista. Over the last six months, 50 percent of the computers we sold with Windows Vista used the 64-bit version. Over the last two months, this number has risen to 75 percent. Like it or not, people are being forced to adopt Windows Vista 64-bit as the only solution available from Microsoft today.

But another 64-bit solution is coming soon. Windows 7 was recently made available in beta form to the general public, and the response has been very  positive. Windows 7 is more lightweight and more configurable – it looks to be everything we expected Windows Vista to be.  With the release of Windows 7 expected at the end of this year, what does that do  for computer sales today?  On the one hand, the pressure is off to succumb to using Windows Vista.

If you can just hang on and use Windows XP for a few more months, you can skip Windows Vista entirely!  Many people are taking this approach, especially small businesses. On the other hand, there will be no upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7, so for people in need of a new computer that can't wait, Windows Vista offers the easiest path to run Windows 7 in the end.

As the release of Windows 7 grows nearer, Microsoft is expected to offer coupons with Windows Vista sales, to allow people to upgrade to Windows 7 for free at its launch. This will encourage people to go ahead and make their computer purchases as early as possible. However, we're still five months away from the start of this program.  What does this mean to new computer sales between now and July? The mess Microsoft created in the industry with Windows Vista will continue at least until July!

What operating system would you choose if you were to buy today? Is the coming launch of Windows 7 helping people let go of Windows XP, or will people cling to Windows XP even more strongly in hopes of avoiding Windows Vista entirely?  This is not only an important issue for me, but I believe it's an interesting topic for discussion.

Jon Bach is president of Puget Systems, a custom computer builder in Auburn, Wash. Opinions expressed in guest posts are those of their authors, and don't necessarily reflect the views of TechFlash or its staff.