Steve Ballmer says one thing. And Microsoft appears to refute it in its next public statement. It leads to confusion and Microsoft customers are left wondering. Jared Proudfoot from the Microsoft lifecycle group attempts a clarification:
“…Windows XP will remain in what Microsoft calls “mainstream support” to April 14, 2009, and continue in “extended support” though April 8, 2014, said Proudfoot. The former delivers free fixes — for both security patches and other bug fixes — to everyone. During the latter, all users receive security updates, but non-security hotfixes are given only to companies who have signed support contracts with Microsoft.”
link: Microsoft: June 30 not end of Windows XP support
The obvious question is ‘why not make the non-security hotfixes universally available?’. That certainly would be the most customer friendly approach. If the concern is that everything must be done to nudge customers to Vista or the ‘next latest and greatest’ operating system, then let the quality of the product lead the way.
It may seem a bit ‘old fashioned’ to think that quality is profitable but it seems to work. It always has.
Catherine Forsythe
Director of Operations
FlyingHamster
