Microsoft issued a reminder that it will pull the plug on Windows XP for netbooks on October 22, with customers and OEMs reminded that no more netbooks will ship with a pre-installed copy of XP Home.
Microsoft first released XP in August 2001, and has had much success with the OS over the past nine years -- including standing its ground for Microsoft when Windows Vista flopped.
Prior to the launch of Windows 7 in 2009, manufacturers wondered how much longer they'd have access to Windows XP. Microsoft was working diligently to promote Windows 7, but Windows XP remained the most popular version of Windows for netbooks -- mainly because the industry was unsure how the newer OS would run on netbooks.
It turns out the OS runs on most netbooks just fine, and there has been an industry wide change to Windows 7.
"However for a majority of our customers, they may not notice much change; many PC makers have already been actively manufacturing and selling a broad set of Windows 7 netbooks since Windows 7 released in October 2009," Microsoft said. "In fact, according to NPD's Retail Tracking Service, by April 2010, 81 percent of netbook units sold at retail in the U.S. came with Windows 7 pre-installed."
A recent blog post on ZDNet indicates Microsoft charges OEMs $15 per copy of XP, while Windows 7 rakes in $50 per copy.
Last month, Windows 7 passed Vista to become the No. 2 most used OS in the world; with analysts predicting Windows 7 will overtake XP, especially if home users begin to use the OS on a wider scale. Meanwhile, Microsoft announced it will release the Windows 7 SP1 beta sometime next month.
