see this is the sole prerogative of Micro Soft to decide what to do with its products. There is nothing wrong therein. every company has the right to decide in a situation when it feels that its product is too good for the use but not getting its due... so what microsoft did is not as much big an issue as it has been made.

It is a funny question. Microsoft never left its so-called 'old ways'. the good old monopolistic, "I will crush you" ways. Some days back I read that even Bill Gates was not happy with the quality of Microsoft products and Internet services and he wrote a long email, a really long email criticizing the usability shortfalls with Microsoft products.

Vista is dead. Long live windows Xp.

What is monopoly? Is it not forcing users/consumers with choices that not of one's liking? But, in today's Internet age, the consumer has a choice. He/she is not that dependent upon on Desktop OS. For basic net work, any OS will do and Win XP is doping fine on that score. If you want gaming, get a wii.

It is corporate customers who are Microsoft's main cash cow.

Although they have always been the same way, it just depends on what you hear and what they tell you, there will still be ways to acquire XP after they stop selling it. I actually published something on it awhile back. I’ll look for the link, but this isn’t a catastrophe, this is just funny they are forcing people into Vista.

But no, the cheap availability wouldn’t be hurting you if Vista was actually worth 2 shits in a barrel. Just like all the other operating systems, they got better, then worse, then better and now worse. Give it up Microsoft you will never win this consumers heart again.

Mac actually is gaining support, but is still a ways away. Because of Microsoft’s blunders and especially this conflict, more and more people may turn to Mac to fulfill their needs in the future.

But again, they are making the wrong decision in doing this. They just want to shove people onto buying Vista so they can make more money. They imply that here.

But Microsoft feels that it should have right to decide about its product. It believes that Vista is a better product and because of cheap availability of XP, Vista has not got down well with customers.

So if all food companies decide that they don’t like any of their product but dog crap you wouldn’t have a problem eating that? Because frankly that is what they are pushing on us, dog crap. I’ll grant they have the right to do what they want with their product, but to say it is not a big issue is totally false.

They are losing massive support, and they know it. But they are out there to get a lot of those people who do not know much about computers because they will be tricked into buying Vista only to find out they have x5 as many problems as they did on XP. XP has its problems, but Vista has so many more it is a joke. They needed to drop vista, and save face or totally redesign it because the only good thing about it is the overlay which I can get for XP! I want a reason to switch to Vista other than to give MS more money and to ’downgrade’ to their crappy new system. I have yet to find anything worth it to make me even think about switching.

Thanks Microsoft, you just lost a customer, and looks like a few others.

I don't think so because it makes sense for Microsoft to focus on support and upgrades on a single operating system than a host of them. Windows XP is now an older version and since the Vista is architecturally different from XP, there is nothing wrong to concentrate on it than the previous one. This makes economic sense too and Microsoft doesn't need the help of software pirates anymore to popularize its products.

What is there anything else left to say about the way of Microsoft, a company that prides itself in setting high examples of monopolistic behavior, legal stalling, unusable software products, slow moving corporate machine, tremendous lobbying machinery and an overall pungent corporate reputation all around, except for that big cash hoard.

By the way, we love our free copies of XP. In the words of Douglas Adams, "Tanks for the fish" but no thanks.

I’m so tired of everyone’s double-standards when it comes to Microsoft. I’m not someone who is a die-hard Windows man, I’ll use Linux; I’ll use OS X. Actually, I really want get a Macbook to better understand that system. But why do you fuss so much when Microsoft says you’ll no longer be able to buy an older OS, but not a peep when a Linux distro or Apple stop offerring one of theirs? Apple is even worse. It tells you what hardware you can use as well as software. And it also aburtly stops offerring the older version as soon as the new one is ready. Heaven forbid that Microsoft gives you a year to prepare for the end of something. Would it have been better if it comes out one day and say, ”XP is dead, you can now only get Vista!” That’s exactly what Apple does, but somehow what Microsoft does is far worse.

Why don’t you just come out and say, ”I have an irrational hatred of Microsoft!” That is what everyone is indirectly saying when they say they don’t want to switch to Vista.