Windows XP GONE as of 2008

Microsoft will stop selling Windows XP to PC makers such as Dell, Lenovo and Hewlett-Packard by January 31, a company representative confirmed Thursday. The software maker will stop selling XP to system builders, the smaller custom PC makers, a year later, the representative said.

"This has been the practice at Microsoft for some time, and this process provides a gradual transition away from a previous version of an OS, from full availability, to availability only through a distributor, and finally availability via downgrade rights," the Microsoft representative said in an e-mail.

Windows Vista, the successor to XP, became broadly available at the end of January. Microsoft has worked hard to promote Vista as a safer, easier to use, better connected and more entertaining version of Windows than any of its predecessors. However, there s still a lack of Vista-compatible applications and hardware drivers, hurdles for broad adoption.

Despite those words of caution, many PC shoppers already have no choice beyond Vista. PC makers have already moved almost everything they sell to consumers--and some businesses--over to Vista, both in stores and online.