Microsoft ends Windows XP preinstalls on PCs
updated 12:55 pm EDT, Fri October 22, 2010
Microsoft Windows XP preload deadline is today
As announced earlier this summer, Microsoft as of today will no longer allow PC makers to preload Windows XP onto new computer systems, specifically notebooks. The only way to get XP through new system from now on will be a downgrade option, which is said to remain a viable option until 2014.
Today also marks the one-year anniversary of the release of Windows 7. The simplest version, Windows 7 Starter, is widely preloaded on notebooks and netbooks now instead of XP, with the ill-received Vista not an option in general.
XP held its position tightly in the netbook market as it was the cheapest ever OS for the platform. It cost about $15 per each netbook, where Vista and 7 Starter Editions have cost manufacturers at least $30. Microsoft is widely thought to have price dumped XP to get Linux out of the netbook market, which early on was dominated by non-Microsoft platforms. [via ZDNet]
