Windows XP to Live On in Low-Cost Intel 'Netbooks'?

 
 
By Lisa Vaas  |  Posted 2008-04-01 Email Print this article Print
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Microsoft is expected to announce at Intel Developer Forum that Windows XP's end-of-support date will be extended and that the operating system will appear on Intel subnotebooks. 

Windows XP, edging perilously close to its June 30 end-of-support date, is looking to get a reprieve when Intel rolls out low-cost subnotebooks and MIDs (Mobile Internet Devices).

Intel has been touting its low-cost Atom processor, a small yet powerful chip created with Intel's 45-nanometer process that can be crammed together 2,500 CPUs to a wafer. Atom will be powering both MIDs and what Intel is calling "netbooks" or "nettops"-rudimentary subnotebooks good for e-mail, Internet browsing, basic document creation and not much beyond that, to be priced between $250 and $350.

Microsoft isn't responding to queries from news outlets, including eWEEK, but multiple publications have cited sources as saying Microsoft will soon announce that it will extend the kill date for Windows XP, specifically as it relates to subnotebooks and Internet devices such as Intel's MIDs. The sources expect the announcement to coincide with IDF (the Intel Developer Forum), being held in Shanghai, China, April 2-3.

Intel spokesperson Bill Calder told eWEEK that Windows Vista just doesn't make sense for the Atom-run "netbooks."

Read the full story on eWEEK Midmarket.

 
 
 
 
Lisa Vaas is News Editor/Operations for eWEEK.com and also serves as editor of the Database topic center. Since 1995, she has also been a Webcast news show anchorperson and a reporter covering the IT industry. She has focused on customer relationship management technology, IT salaries and careers, effects of the H1-B visa on the technology workforce, wireless technology, security, and, most recently, databases and the technologies that touch upon them. Her articles have appeared in eWEEK's print edition, on eWEEK.com, and in the startup IT magazine PC Connection. Prior to becoming a journalist, Vaas experienced an array of eye-opening careers, including driving a cab in Boston, photographing cranky babies in shopping malls, selling cameras, typography and computer training. She stopped a hair short of finishing an M.A. in English at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. She earned a B.S. in Communications from Emerson College. She runs two open-mic reading series in Boston and currently keeps bees in her home in Mashpee, Mass.
 
 
 
 
 
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