The operating system is set to be pulled off shelves this year but Steve Ballmer says that could change with 'customer feedback.'

Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer offered a glimmer of hope on Thursday to fans of the company's XP operating system, saying the company may reconsider its decision to stop selling XP soon.

But Ballmer was adamant that "most people who buy PCs today buy them with Vista."

"That's the statistical truth," he told reporters at a news conference at Louvain-La-Neuve University. "If customer feedback varies, we can always wake up smarter."

Fans of the six-year-old operating system set to be pulled off store shelves by June 30 have plastered the Internet with blog posts, cartoons and petitions recently. They trumpet its superiority to Windows Vista, Microsoft's latest PC operating system, whose consumer launch in January was greeted with lukewarm reviews.

Ballmer said the customers buying PCs with XP are IT departments who are having trouble shifting old machines to newer technology.

Some 160,000 people already have signed an online Save XP Web petition who want Microsoft to keep selling it until the next version of Windows is released, currently targeted for 2010.

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News source: CNN

Bah! XP begone!

Most people don't know the difference between XP and Vista, figure Vista is newer, so they get it.

And a LOT of the time, you get Vista because you have to. Not by choice!

True Jizzy. And I hope they'll keep selling it. I still want to buy my one legit Windows license since '95 (for this computer )

Just buy Vista Ultimate. Microsoft released a new sound scheme the other day exclusively to Vista Ultimate.

I can't use Vista. The sound is fucked up, so I can't use it.
And yes, sound is the one thing I ultimately care for.

Edit: Sound scheme? As in login/logoff sounds etc.?

People don't like change.

lol...yep that totally justifies the additional cost

While people used to be angry with me when i mention about how vista is bad, and how i like to stay with XP, but now i think its something more than a personal opinion, anyway i started a page to save all negative comments about vista to be like a repository for anybody want a good reason to stay with Windows XP
Anti-Vista

X you're a good guy, and I like you ... but the anti-Vista crap still annoys the hell outa me. Here's a quip from your own rhetoric page:
The bold part is 110% true and good. The primary question is simply this, Does your computer have permission to kill itself? (I have plans to do a whitepaper titled exactly that)

Even your beloved Linux is adamant about restricting user privileges to prevent people from blowing their own balls off. I spoke with an admin at a local company that stated "Our help desk support calls went down by 80% the instant we removed administrative rights from user accounts." You Can NOT Argue with Results Like That!

I'm using Vista, and even under heavy (and sustained) multitasking loads I get this:


...and it's still running like a raped ape.

Yes Vista does force peoples hand a bit but it needed done. There a re far too many brainless idiots crying about wanting to be protected from themselves, and slathering on tons of resource hogging "Security" software isn't cutting it. Have you read any of the top security organization's State-of-the-Industry whitepapers?!? (I'll answer for you; No!) Because even they are starting to preach (admit...) that the war is being lost due to the diminishing return issue (a.k.a. Rapid response to new threats -vs- ever escalating False Positives) Not to mention the lawyers are getting involved in trying to bolster the "Fair Use" actions of the marketing companies that are dumping this shit in our laps.

Bottom line: (Quit whining and) Don't do everyday computing tasks with administrative rights.

It really is just that simple.

Oh PM, i like u too my friend , but what can i do ? maybe u didn't face it yet, but i got many annoying calls from many employees who got vista pre installed in there laptops, while i was a beta tester for this OS, and i got a free copy of it, can u imagine, how many times i installed it and tried to persuade myself with it?! even if i got it installed in a cutting edge machines which have up to date hardware, but for some reason i didn't get neither my feeling while i am using XP nor mine while i am using KDE in *NIX, it could be my fault after all, but you know many people don't see there own faults.