Microsoft, Windows XP, and Vista

Fun times for Microsoft... they're trying to push Vista on an unwilling world, but Windows XP just Will Not Die. Apparently, they just announced that they're keeping XP around for sale for another two years... but only for the "budget" laptop category that's coming on strong just now in the likes of the Asus Eee and others. Everybody else, get ready to not be able to buy XP after June from major resellers like Dell.

The funny thing is, this reminds me so much of the sort of thing a now-defunct electronics company I worked for in the past attempted... having control of a niche market, they sold a device that did the basics of what our customers needed for about $500 a unit. They then went to "experts" in the field who convinced them that additional features would soon be necessary to stay competetive... but those features weren't by any means all wanted by any one customer, and had no use at all for many of our customers. Even so, a massively larger device was created, with capabilities for modular expansion, etc. for about $1500/unit... which, naturally, didn't sell, because they were still selling the more basic unit.

That company's solution to their problem? They discontinued the basic $500 unit entirely... for a time. Sales dropped off so badly, and demand for the old unit was so high, that it was brought back and the newer, bigger monstrosity was still supported, but not really pushed at sale time. Of course, by that point, the company had shrunk to the point that there really wasn't a dedicated "sales" staff anymore. We tried to take what we learned from that failure to build a new, inexpensive basic model (as parts for the old one were becoming hard to find), but the company folded before it came to market.

Having been through that, I don't see the next year or two being pleasant for Microsoft. In my humble opinion, they should simply accept that Vista is the Windows ME of the new millennium, sell XP and Vista as each allows, and use the lessons of Vista to release the next Windows version (currently just called Windows 7) as "New and Improved, like Vista without the [list suckiness the public disliked]", and be done with it. It's not like they should be having problems finding parts for their OS, after all.