XP receives another stay of execution

Windows WP just won't die.

After being officially extended until 2010 for low-end computers, it was then made available as a downgrade option for Vista users until July of this year.

This latest offer has now been extended until January 2009.
It's proved incredibly popular so far, with over almost a third of computers sold with Vista returning to XP.

For many users, it's been Vista's resource-hungry nature that has caused problems, but others have doubtless been put off by its shaky reputation.

An interesting question is whether or not those users that have returned to XP will ever bother with Vista: there's apparently less than a year to wait in between the official expiry of XP, now scheduled for January 2009, and the arrival of Windows 7, pencilled in for the end of next year.

These constantly changing schedules come at a difficult time for Microsoft, whose operating systems have gradually been losing market share for the past few months, with some suggesting that the company might slip below the psychologically-important threshold of 90% of Internet users before the end of the year.