Windows XP officially went Gold on August 24th, 2001. It became available in the retail world on October 25, 2001.
The official end came on October 22nd, 2010, according to Mary-Jo Foley. Microsoft no longer allows OEMs to install XP on computers after that date.
In between, Windows XP became the most successful PC operating system to come out of the Redmond campus. Indeed, it is still used on more than half the systems in the world according to Wikipedia. My work computer still uses XP, as Windows 7 is not “officially” certified for use with the CAD system we use on that machine.
Windows XP was a great OS. Key word is “was”. It has been patched so many times that when I think about those patches, the proverbial “chewing gum and bailing wire” concept comes to mind. Windows Vista came along and Microsoft needed more chewing gum and bailing wire to keep XP afloat.
In my opinion, Vista was a knee-jerk reaction (and concept OS) to all the security problems that XP had to endure as computer usage soared and the number of hackers soared along with that. Windows 7 ironed out the problems that Vista had and is on track (once again in my opinion) to take the “success” crown away from XP. But, of course, we are in a different world these days. While the PC is still #1, today’s smartphones, the iPad, and other technologies may eventually render the PC a niche machine, much as the PC did to the mini- and mainframe computers of yesteryear.
At least in the consumer world. Maybe even the business world.
Anyway, XP is dead for use on new computers, and can be brought back from the dead only as a downgrade on those machines.
I was at Best Buy to pick up my fist copy of XP on October 25th, 2001. It was a great OS 9 years ago, but I am not sad to see it gone today. I would say Long Live Win 7, but I doubt Microsoft will let any current or future OS achieve the longevity that XP enjoyed.
