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Probing the Vista timeline: whats the rush? Its certainly not support
Wednesday, October 11th, 2006
When Windows Vista ships to businesses later this year, it will mean that Microsoft will be 
simultaneously supporting three desktop operating systems for the workplace: Windows 2000 Professional, Windows XP Professional, and Windows Vista’s business editions (Business/Enterprise).
What’s more, this support situation will not change until the close of this decade. The oldest operating system of the three—Windows 2000 Professional—won’t fall out of support until 2010. When July 31, 2010 arrives, Windows 2000 Professional will leave the extended support phase and IT shops will essentially be on their own. In the meantime, Windows 2000 Professional will be supported with security updates, while paid support, including non-security-related hotfixes, will be available for a fee for businesses.
Windows XP will be around even longer. Microsoft has not yet announced a date when XP Professional will be retired from extended support, but the company has already said that it will be a minimum of seven years from the launch of XP’s successor. Based on our expectation that Vista’s business editions will ship this winter, that would mean that XP will be supported through all of 2013.
Whatever Microsoft taps to sell Vista, it won’t be related to OS support phases. In fact, Microsoft may have to promote Vista in spite of it, as its two older operating systems will continue to receive security support for several years. This effectively puts businesses that run Windows in the position of having all the time in the world to evaluate Vista. Thus it is a little surprising to see Microsoft saying that they expect Vista adoption to proceed at twice the rate of XP’s adoption for the first year. Probing the Vista timeline: what’s the rush? It’s certainly not support
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