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Well we knew it was coming and here is the official word from Microsoft. The blurb below was taken from Microsoft's Partner Website located at: https://partner.microsoft.com/us/40020336 This link will probably change but we are giving you exactly what is there at this point in time word for word and we quote:

What’s New

Within 6 months to a year (maybe even sooner) finding a NEW unopened copy of Windows XP Home or Professional will be just about as likely as hitting a 200 million dollar Powerball lottery. Consider this, even though production will cease on the given date above (unless someone somewhere changes its mind), Microsoft will still offer support for XP through 2014. What's wrong with this picture?

Just a guess on our part, but we feel Microsoft is stopping production of XP for a few reasons many of which are quite likely, although not substantiated. We are not into conspiracy theories by any stretch of the imagination, but here is what we believe and after speaking with several other system builders, we know that we are not alone in our beliefs. In our tight little group of system builder friends and software supplier friends, it seems there may be a little dissention in the ranks especially with the larger partners. This is just our opinion and nothing else. We could be as wrong as can be, but then again we could be right... only Microsoft knows for sure.

1. Vista sales are not nearly what Microsoft had hoped OR expected they would be for certain. Sure they have the Dells, HP's and Compaq's of the world coming out by the thousands everyday, and of course these preloaded systems do count as Vista sales, HOWEVER you will also notice that if you do a little research in the business and consumer market for STANDALONE OS sales, XP is outselling Vista by quite a wide margin. This tells us that most people, as well as businesses, are quite satisfied with XP even with its flaws, as opposed to starting fresh with an OS that is not very user friendly at all for people that have been using computers for a while. New users probably are not as concerned as more seasoned users, simply because they have never used XP. Older and more informed users, however, have not been very impressed with Vista, and the EXTREME hardware requirements needed for it run properly. Add to that the fact that numerous older peripherals such as printers just will not work with Vista and you have a problem. The main thing to remember is when was the last time you ever saw this much resistance to changing from one OS to another. Most of the time people are HAPPY to upgrade to a newer OS, however this has not been the case with the switch from XP to Vista at least in our experience, and from what we hear from our customers on a daily basis.
    
2. OK quick.. hold up your hand if your office or work environment has switched to Vista.. let's see a show of hands? Ah-hah.. just what we thought. We do not see a lot of you raising your hands out there. Listen, I was an IT Manager for one of the largest communications companies in the world , and believe me when I say, they are still using XP and will be into the foreseeable future. Why you ask? Simple... M-O-N-E-Y. Changes as drastic as what is needed for a large enterpise group to move from one OS to another, one Office suite to another is staggering for an IT department...secondly the costs can end up being in the tens of millions of dollars, and with the economy being what it s today, and making your shareholders unhappy is not what you want to do at this point in time. A lot of companies have already cut their IT budgets to the bone, and believe me, they (IT guys) don't change nearly as fast as many people would have you believe. There is an old saying in the IT business "If it ain't broke.. don't fix it" and man is making a leap from XP to Vista a very expensive change. Throw in the learning curve for the work force, and you have a madhouse on your hands. Believe me IT departments HATE change as change creates a whole new level of problems that have not been researched, and have not been discovered. You can BETA test until you are blue in the face and what works well in the lab, does not work anything like it does in production. I feel for these guys. I truly do.
    
3. Let's see now. There are two versions of XP... Home and Pro. Vista has four versions? Why? Who knows. When they say Vista Basic they mean just that.. when they say Vista Ultimate , it is really just Vista Basic with a few graphical toys thrown in and some cool little options and a few more bells and whistles. Other than that there's not a whole lot to justify the 200$ price difference. Personally I am not a big fan of Vista, but be that as it may. It seems I am going to HAVE to become a fan whether I want to be or not. My techs and I have it installed as a secondary OS on numerous computers, and we play with it all the time, but lo and behold every time I look I see every machine in our shop on an XP desktop. Go figure. We have tried to make Vista look similar to XP but even that doesn't help. In all reality I dread the day we have to go to Vista full time, but that's me. I guess I'm old school.
    
4. My favorite of all. For the first time since Windows 95 appeared on the market, laptop sales to students in college has Macintosh in the lead over laptops running Windows Vista. I would hate to think our youth would simply buy a Mac because of the cool commercials. Let's be realistic here. Macs costs almost 1/3 to 1/2 more than a comparable PC running Vista, and its not like college kids have a lot of money. I know my daughter doesn't. The Mac OS is VERY similar to Linux, and Microsoft even makes a version of Office for Macs. I have heard that it is even possible to install XP on a Mac if you create a partition for said OS, even though I have heard of very few people who have tried that leap. My personal opinion is this. Kids today are fairly computer savvy. Most kids entering college now, have been using computers for most of their lives. I know that if it were me, and I was going to have to learn a new OS anyway, why not go with a Mac. I mean their reputation for quality is excellent, and it reminds me of the old Ford/Chevy arguments we guys have all the time. People that use Macs love them. People that use PC's scratch their heads when they hit the desktop on a Mac.. its just so sparse, and why the heck does it boot up so quickly? I need a real Mac person to tell me this, because I too am one of those dumb old PC guys that doesn't know that much about a Mac. What I do know is their laptop sales have exploded in the past few months.

So this where we are, and what we are destined to be using within a couple of years UNLESS Microsoft has something in the works, just like they did when they brought out that wonderful operating systems Windows ME... remember that one. Boy I have never seen people go back to Windows 98 or up to Windows 2000 so quickly. Maybe it was just a relief when XP did arrive on the scene that made buyers migrate to it so quickly, and XP gained acceptance really fast in the IT world simply because it was a souped up version of 2000, and it ran rather good. You could throw a little ram at it, and it ran fine. After a service pack or two it was downright nice. Now we have to start the same vicious cycle all over again.

Maybe i am just getting old, or maybe I am just getting to the point that I despise change, but the fact remains there are numerous people just like me out there, that are experimenting with Linux more and more everyday, and you know what? It's free and it works well. Throw a Firefox browser on there, some Thunderbird Email, and a nice dose of OpenOffice, and you have quite the machine. Add a little Wine and you can still run your favorite games and other software you have come to love over the years.

Either way, we have been purchasing every copy of Windows XP we can get our hands on before its too late. We are stockpiling it like there will be none left at all two weeks from now. Check the shelves at your local Office Depot or Best Buy.. XP is getting scarce in any version OEM or retail box.  Even though we know Microsoft doesn't like it, we are DOWNGRADING (It's been a long time since I have used that word) Vista computers to Windows XP and guess what.. people don't mind paying the difference.

You know what's really great about privateer service centers like Mitek Computers? We may be roguish, but we can still build a desktop or laptop with XP installed on it. We have noticed that Dell and a few other major system builders started doing that well after we had decided this would be our path long ago.

So if you need a computer with XP on it or even Vista on it give us a call. We are still the same great shop as we always were, but now we offer something the other guys won't be very shortly and that is a system BUILT just the way YOU want it. How cool is that? Give us a call today at (859) 985-0050 or simply drop in and see us. We are located in Berea Ky at 170 Mini Mall Drive in the Boone Square Shopping Center. We are right behind Britton Chevrolet, and across Glades Road from Rite-Aid. Just ask anyone in the area if you are new. Just say Mitek Computers, and they will send you our way. Locally we have one the BEST if not THE BEST reputation in the business for building a computer right the firs time, or repairing a computer right the first time. We know we are the best. We just need you to know the same!

all opinions expressed on our news page are our own, and are not to be construed as fact when it comes to our personal opinions about an operating system.  my opinions of vista, linux, xp,and macintosh are solely the opinion of myself, and are not necessarily the same as those of others including microsoft, mitek employees or other system builders or service centers. if anyone has anything to say to me , remember this is still america, and as such i am entitled to my opinion, and as such i will give it when i see fit or feel the need. damn the torpedoes. full speed ahead! © 2008 mike g. at mitek computers