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On Monday, Microsoft will stop selling copies of the operating system to retailers and computer manufacturers. There are exceptions: Until June 2010, manufacturers of limited and lower-cost computers can place Windows XP Home on the machines, and small businesses that custom-build PCs will be able to install XP on computers through Jan. 31, 2009.

“We’ve spent more than a year consulting with our customers and industry partners to ensure that we’re doing the right thing,” Microsoft says at its Web site, “The Future of Windows XP.” (Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal).

“We understand that not everyone may agree with our decision — just as not everyone was happy to see Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows ME retire (OK, perhaps not ME).”

Well, credit the company for a sense of humor and for recognizing that the operating system before Windows XP was as loathed as the one that followed it, Windows Vista.

Vista, released early last year, has been scorned for several reasons. It runs better on newer computers with faster chips and more memory than on older or economy-scale PCs.

Many consumers and businesses have not wanted to spend the money to buy new PCs and the software and peripheral equipment needed to work with Vista. Also, all the drivers, or software programs, needed for Vista have not been available, something that is starting to change.

“It’s not a huge surprise that just over half the enterprises we surveyed don’t yet have Windows Vista deployment plans,” said Forrester Research in an April report. “Others are simply taking a wait-and-see approach.”

Even Intel, which makes the processor chips for PCs and Macs, is apparently staying away from Vista. The company has decided not to upgrade its computers to Vista, finding “no compelling case” to do so, according to “a person with direct knowledge of the company’s plans,” The New York Times reported this week.

‘Tough choices’
InfoWorld, a publication geared to information technology professionals, also found that IT managers and chief technology officers have not been eager to move to Vista.

In January, the publication launched an online petition drive, “Save Windows XP” that has now garnered more than 209,000 signatures. Eric Knorr, InfoWorld editor-in-chief, said the petition drive continues, “sort of a stay-of-execution plea” with hopes that Microsoft will listen.

On its site, Microsoft acknowledged the petition effort and the e-mails it has been receiving about keeping Windows XP in circulation, but said “commitment to innovation sometimes means making tough choices. This is one of them.”

Businesses and individuals that buy a new PC with either Windows Vista Business or Windows Vista Ultimate on it have the option of “downgrading” to Windows XP Professional through Jan. 31, 2009, according to Microsoft.

Computer maker Dell, which had planned to stop selling Windows XP earlier this month, recently declared June 26 as the final day to purchase a Dell desktop PC with a Windows XP license, in order to meet Microsoft’s “last-day-to-ship” deadline of June 30.

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