I guess sales of Windows Vista must really suck. Because according to The Register and confirmed by News.com, Windows XP lives for another six months for OEMs to include XP recovery disks or even to “downgrade” from Vista. This is the second extension since the OS shipped last year. According to the News.com story:
“As more customers make the move to Windows Vista, we want to make sure that they are making that transition with confidence and that it is as smooth as possible,” Microsoft said. “Providing downgrade media for a few more months is part of that commitment, as is the Windows Vista Small Business Assurance program, which provides one-on-one, customized support for our small-business customers.”
Let me translate that for you: “Vista sales really suck. So we’re forced to pop XP in the box to encourge people to buy PC hardware while we use some slight of hand to record a Vista sale. That way everybody wins.”
The News.com story notes that Microsoft Chief Executive Chair Thrower Officer Steve Ballmer noted that 180 million copies of Windows have been sold to date. The question is, how many copies of Vista are actually being used.