Extending XP

© May 2008 Anthony Lawrence

Apparently Microsoft hates to lose even a crumb of the pie, so they are letting XP live a little longer, although only in the "cheap PC" market.

If that doesn't make you chuckle, you have no sense of humor at all.

Can't you just imagine the corporate hand-wringing that accompanied that decision? The true anguish that had to be on Steve Ballmer's face as the inevitability of this sank home? Microsoft either extends XP for this special case or hands the market over to Linux. That was their choice; I would have loved being a fly on the wall as this decision was made.

The really fun thing about this is that it could be a crack in the wall. No, not the wall the fly was on; the Microsoft wall of control.

Suppose some very large Microsoft shop uses this as leverage: "Look here, we simply do not want your Vista. You extended XP's life for low end PC's; we want XP on the new machines we're about to buy.. and if you won't do that, well, as much as it pains us, we'll have to look in other directions.."

Ahh, the brinkmanship. Would Microsoft flinch? Or would they assume it's a bluff and stand firm? The cost of giving in would be large because other companies would make the same demands. On the other hand, risking a major defection to Apple or Linux carries a horrible PR penalty. There'd be more anguish in the boardroom.

I'd love to see them squirming on this hook, wouldn't you?

Got something to add? Send me email.

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