Trouble around Microsoft's Windows support deadline

The US software group is having to change the information on its website to eliminate criticism related to consumers' decision to stop supporting Windows XP versions.

On January 10, the site still posted a notice that there would be no upgrade for Windows XP Home and Windows XP Media Center after December 31st. However, Ines Vargas, a Microsoft program manager, said the company will continue to renew Windows XP and XP Professional for another two years from when the next generation Vista operating system was released. Windows XP Professional alone, as a product for business, will be supported for an additional 5 years with patches and fee-based services.

Analysts said that Microsoft had to make this decision because it did not want to encounter great resistance from customers and made the company image worse.

This group has been subjected to many criticism regarding product support policies. After countless user protests, they had to extend the time limit for Windows 98, Windows 98 version 2 and Windows Millennium to June 30, May.

This situation is partly due to Microsoft taking too much time to release a new version, making customers not have much time to convert and upgrade the system accordingly. They did not introduce any new desktop operating system since Windows XP appeared in October 2001. In 2004, Longhorn was expected but the plan was canceled. Later that year, Microsoft announced it would continue the Longhorn project, now Vista, and promised to publish in 2006.

" If Microsoft does not continue to support, the vulnerabilities in their own operating systems will turn a series of computers worldwide into zombie machines, containing viruses, spyware and many other dangerous software. Internet attack, exploitation, the only person responsible is Microsoft, "said Paul DeGroot, analyst at Directions on Microsoft.

Gartner expert Michael Silver also agrees: " Microsoft cannot stop the life cycle for an operating system if its product base is too big ."

In addition, Microsoft also needs to make the renewal notice more clear. " Not everyone can draw the conclusion that every Windows XP customer will be supported for another two years, " DeGroot said, referring to the policy Microsoft introduced in 2004. That message caused a stir. The public opinion seems to focus on business products only and does not apply to consumers. " We have been misunderstood. This policy is for everyone ," Vargas said.