Microsoft: Vista Will Live on Until at Least 2011

By Jane McEntegart
published

Microsoft has said it will put Vista to bed in 2011 at the earliest.

According to a report in Computerworld, a Microsoft spokesperson said the company has no plans to dump Vista when Windows 7 launches and will keep selling it to computer makers, system builders, volume licensees and consumers at retail until at least January 2011.

Yesterday a comment by Richard Francis, general manager and Windows client business group leader at Microsoft Asia-Pacific sparked speculation that MS would ditch Vista as soon as Windows 7 launched. Francis told the IDG news service that the Redmond company was still not sure if the manufacturers will be able to ship Vista once Windows 7 launches.

CW reports that a Microsoft spokeswoman declined to confirm that the company would dump Vista when Windows 7 appears. "We have not made any final end-of-sales decisions for Windows Vista," she said in an e-mail.

At the same time she pointed out that Microsoft's policy is to keep an OS in distribution for at least four years after its debut, which would mean Vista would have to be available until January 2011. However, with Windows 7 offering users the ability to run older programs using a built in XP mode, it's hard to imagine anyone opting for Vista over Windows 7.

Check out the full report on Computerworld.

Jane McEntegart
33 Comments Comment from the forums
  • dman3k
    Maybe M$ could do good with some positive PR by offering $7 upgrades from Vista to Windows 7...

    There's no Vista user who wouldn't pay $7 to upgrade to 7!
    Reply
  • ispyamoose
    The least Microsoft could do would be to attempt repairs on Vista, in the form of good service packs.
    Reply
  • theJ
    dman3kMaybe M$ could do good with some positive PR by offering $7 upgrades from Vista to Windows 7...There's no Vista user who wouldn't pay $7 to upgrade to 7!
    I'm sure most would pay $77...

    ...in keeping with theme of "7"
    Reply
  • hellwig
    "Francis told the IDG news service that the Redmond company was still not sure if the manufacturers will be able to ship Vista once Windows 7 launches."

    I think what he meant was, he wasn't sure manufacturers would be able to dump Vista off on any customers once 7 was released. Who in their right mind would buy Vista over 7? Sure, people bought XP over Vista, but that's because Vista and XP weren't very compatible. Too many companies were late with drivers and software updates that Vista never got out of the starting gate. 7 and Vista, on the other hand, use the same kernel, and are far more compatible than Vista was with XP, so there's really no reason not to choose 7 over Vista (for new computers, if you already own Vista, no reason to buy a new OS for an old computer).

    On the other hand, Microsoft should push 7 over Vista and discourage manufacturers from selling Vista once 7 is released. They did the same with Vista over XP. If Microsoft makes any push for Vista after 7 is released, it will be quite obvious some VP over at Microsoft just can't admit Vista was a flop.
    Reply
  • Elsapo
    ispyamooseThe least Microsoft could do would be to attempt repairs on Vista, in the form of good service packs.
    When was the last time you used vista?
    Reply
  • captaincharisma
    wow that's a short time. XP lasted longer than that and willbecause of the netbooks. I guess it is true that windows 7 really is vista second edition.

    clearly ispyamoose doesn't use vista or if he does he is running it on an archaic PC. vista has always been stable for me but people agree it was been stable sense service pack 1
    Reply
  • kamkal
    Vista runs fine on a good machine

    an old crap bucket with 512mb ram isnt gunna cut it :(
    Reply
  • FlayerSlayer
    Thing is, people wanted XP after Vista came out because there was such a sharp difference in driver support, application compatibility, and performance. But if Windows 7 beats out Vista in all of these areas, while even sharing much of the visual appearance of Vista, then it's just Vista R2 and there won't be much/any demand for Vista to stay available.

    Sure, XP's been available for a couple of years into Vista's lifespan, but that's by massive public outcry. Now Vista will be available years into Win7's lifespan for no particularly good reason?
    Reply
  • duckmanx88
    dman3kMaybe M$ could do good with some positive PR by offering $7 upgrades from Vista to Windows 7...There's no Vista user who wouldn't pay $7 to upgrade to 7! i would do so in a heartbeat. hell i payed for a vista upgrade i think i deserve an OS thats released 2 yrs later. i love vista on my desktop, but i don't even both using my vista laptop because of the absolute incredibly slowness of it.


    Reply
  • ispyamoose
    ElsapoWhen was the last time you used vista?
    Was that meant to be sarcastic? I used Vista about a week ago on my laptop (2.5 Ghz Core 2 Duo, 4 GB ram, GeForce 8600M GT). In my opinion, Vista has some great features, but a lot of bloat. SP1 improved things a lot. SP2 doesn't look to be that great, at least when it comes to optimization.
    Reply