Microsoft slams window on sales of XP software

Microsoft Corporation has officially pulled the XP operating system from its product line. The move came 18 months after the company launched the Vista operating system.

Although Microsoft will not sell the XP program any longer, they will still generate revenue from providing support for the software since the support will no longer be free. Microsoft will offer extended support packages for XP until at least 2014.

It is expected that demand for the support packages will most likely come from big corporate customers who are not ready to migrate to the Vista operating system, but still need support for their current XP-run networks.

For example, Intel says it has no plans to migrate its 90,000 employees' computers to Vista from XP. "XP is our standard platform," an Intel spokesman said, according to Dow Jones Newswire "There have been no decisions on Vista and no timetable for a Vista decision."

It is estimated that only 14 percent of computers using the Windows operating system are using Vista. Based on those numbers, a large potential market exists for extended XP support.

Software support is one of Microsoft's higher margin revenue streams.