XP end may not lift Vista

[hari]

After Bill Gates' exit from Microsoft, it is now the turn of Windows XP to sign out. 

Windows XP (professional) is officially off the shelves, finally, with effect from June 30.

Microsoft has been planning this phase out for a long time now, ever since Windows Vista hit the market in January 2007.

But Vista has so far failed to create the same buzz and hype that the XP had. Analysts attribute this to a melange of things.

"Hardware requirements for Vista is higher, you need a 2GB RAM to operate Vista smoothly," says Gartner's principal analyst Diptarup Chakraborti.

Windows XP requires 256MB to 512MB, which all Mini notebooks and older PCs have. Microsoft is playing it safe by retaining the Windows XP (home) in the market as it can be used as an operating system (OS) for the mini notebooks.

"Intel is pushing these mini notebooks and Microsoft does not want Linux to enter the market, so they have decided to delay the phase out of Windows XP (home) to 2010." says Chakraborti.

However, the XP (home) has its limitations. It does not encourage management control and restricts a user to log onto any domain.

Since its launch in January 2007, Vista has sold 140 million worldwide till date and 2 million in India. Microsoft claims most enterprises like Infosys, L&T, TCS, Satyam and other enterprises have already migrated a large number of their desktops to Vista.

Chakraborti, however, says many enterprises are willing to use XP and not Vista until windows 7, which is to be launched in early 2010, is on the shelves.

"There was a marketing hiccup, where many manufacturers branded their systems as Vista capable, while they could only run the most basic version (Windows Vista Basic). This made users feel cheated, when they bought Vista systems which didn't really have the power to run Vista in its full glory. For laptop owners, another concern has been battery life. The extra features in Vista tend to drain the battery much faster than almost any other operating system on the same system," says an analyst who did not want to be named.

"Consumers would prefer to buy Vista as it looks better than XP, but at what cost is the question. Your favourite applications may not run as they do not have drivers for them. Additionally, enterprise system engineers will have to be re-trained and software re-written for Vista," says Frost and Sullivan Technical (insights) analyst Prithvi Raj.

So, even after it's done away with XP may stay ahead of Vista as most users look forward to Windows 7.


[edited name=hari date=1214996299][/edited]