Good. I like XP and see absolutely no reason to upgrade at this point in time. It's stable and stays out of my way. Just how I want my OS to be.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/lifecycle/default.mspx

Nope...I think MS is thinking $$$ now....they are too money grubbing to cut that cash cow off until Windows 7 is available.

http://www.neowin.net/news/main/08/04/24/microsoft-could-keep-xp-if-customers-want-it-ceo

Phasing it out would be fine if they had something else to sell...but who the heck is going to put up with Vista if XP is an option?

I predict June 30 will not be the end of XP. Especially with SP3 making news now.

It is interesting that your biggest competition is your own product ?

That and OS X...

Apple's sales were up 54% in the last quarter.

PC industry sales were up 3.5% over the same period.

Interestingly, XP SP3 adds primarily enterprise features useful for those managing large networks.

What is included in the 54% sales increase? Just OS X? or other Apples OS, Hardware, IPod, IPhone?

I really don't know the answer because to me what is important is how the tool works for me and not how many of my peers think it is God's gift to computer users.

Just curious.

I had a friend who once owned a Rolls Royce. In every conversation he had to tell how it was the greatest, most wonderful, works better then, everybody was stupid if they didn't have one..... He has retired and now drives a Volvo. Guess it works okay for him.

David S. Calef

EventVideoTeam.com

The guy that lives next door to me has a Rolls. It's a finely crafted car, but I wouldn't have it if he gave it to me. Completely pretentous and not very sporty. Now, if it were a Bentley, I might have to give it some thought before I said, "no."

I thought the only difference between a Roller and a Bentley is the radiator grill.

That was true from 1931 through 1998, but since then have been a separate company. BMW now owns Rolls-Royce and Volkswagen owns Bentley.

The Bentley "Continental GT Speed" has a 12-cylinder, 6-litre twin-turbocharged 603 bhp / 449kW (610 PS) engine that goes from 0-60mph in just 4.3 seconds with a top speed of 202 mph / 325 km/h. Not bad for a car that weighs 5170lbs / 2350kg. The Rolls can't do that!

I couldn't afford the gasoline required to drive it to the gas station, so the point is moot.

serena,

that, and the people who drive them. rollers - new money, bentley's - old money.

leslie

"Apple's sales were up 54% in the last quarter.
PC industry sales were up 3.5% over the same period.

That probably still means growth in absolute PC sales was larger than Apple right? Afterall we're talking 3.5% of a much larger number. Maybe at the 54 -vs 3.5% growth rate Apple sales will meet PC sales in 10 years?

And does that Apple number reflect just computers, or iPods and iPhones as well?

Apple's latest financial report said they shipped 2.3 million Macs last quarter, a unit growth of 51%.

They also shipped more than 10.6 million iPods and more than 1.7 million iPhones (with total iPhone sales for the year expected to be 10 million, with the help of their new 3G version expected in June).

As for when Apple will reach parity with the entire rest of the computer industry after continued strong growth, well, that's for someone else to dream of. It will get harder, but I don't see anything on the PC side that will generate stronger growth than the current.

Have you checked out Sony's one-piece iMac equivalent PC?

Horrible, I was shocked and saddened over how bad it was.

Sony used to be the Apple of the computer and portable audio industry, now from what I hear the company is paralyzed by infighting.

You may find this story of some interest.
My spin on the article is I don't think Sony will be alone in their troubles. The shift in the entertainment device market will hit all the Japanese widget makers.

Bob.

What worries me most is that they are not in a hurry.

Time is not anyone's friend in this business.

Vista is going to cost Ballmer his job. I also heard MS may do Vista like they did Windows ME. Basically to try and forget that it ever happened.

Where is Windows 3.xx in this?

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/lifecycle/default.mspx

Financial analysts have been saying recently that Apple has had a role in Microsoft's reduced profits.

MS of course is doing everything they can to poopoo this.

Ballmer is however touting the large number of Vista licenses sold, but refuses to show how many of those are part of corporate maintenance and upgrade agreements entered into long before Vista was released, with no current intent to ever install those upgrades.

Rolls, Bentley's, and Volvos?

This reminds me of the Miller Analogies Test.

Windows XP is to Rolls-Royce as Windows Vista is to:

John

HA! Good one John!

John, that analogy was excellent!

Here's another look at it:

Most of the bashing of Vista is coming from people who don't even own the OS...so I totally ignore their rants...Vista has been completely trouble free for me, of course I have a pretty up to date system that I built myself, I used to keep XP on a 2nd HD but found myself never booting up to use it, so I removed it and put it on a build I made for my family, ...Vista is not ME, never has been and never will be, Vista will be with us a long time, XP was Bashed continuously when it was released, many forget this..but over time it became what it is today, Vista had some issues when first released with users who have older PCs, and hardware but with current updates and patches Vista is really a lot more stable than XP ...I can't remember the last time if ever my system has crashed with Vista.....The idea that Vista has been a disaster is ludicrous , millions of PC owners like myself are having no problems, the anti ft Vista crowd are not going to change that..... If your happy with XP by all means keep it,as for me Vista is a keeper....