Vista to ‘Die’ Before XP?

An official from Microsoft has recently revealed that support for Vista could be halted by April 2012. Richard Francis, general manager and Windows Client Business Group lead at Microsoft Asia-Pacific said that the company isn’t sure if it would still make the OS available in the market once Windows 7 is released.

The Vista end-date comes as a surprise to many since XP’s availability and support is expected to continue until April 2014. However, experts aren’t that astonished by the news, highlighting the fact that XP is still being actively used by many PC users. Some even surmise that XP users equal or even outnumber those who are using Vista.

The disclosure may have been prompted by Windows 7’s impending release. Redmond and a number of analysts are already discouraging users from buying Vista. A trial version (Release Candidate) of Windows 7 is even already available for download. The new OS is expected to be released as early as October or as soon as the pricing details have already been ironed out.

The withdrawal of support for Vista condemns the OS to certain death. Vista’s endless bouts with compatibility and security problems makes it very dependent on the patches and service packs that its maker occasionally releases. Without the updates, using Vista could be perilous.

Numerous patches have already been issued for Vista. Just yesterday, Microsoft Windows Vista Service Pack 2. SP2 addresses certain flaws, such as slow shutdowns and sudden crashes. Almost 700 problems are covered by the new service pack.

Vista’s lifespan may be too short for those who already have it. But for those who stuck with XP and waited for a better OS to come, the wait has been long but definitely worthwhile. Don’t expect Microsoft to considerably extend Vista’s expiry date. Once Windows 7 is released, Redmond will already be too busy defending its new OS from bugs and attacks. Vista updates may just come in trickles by then.