When Will Windows XP Become Unavailable?

Reader Paulette Gray writes: I was at Best Buy yesterday and they said they didn't have any Windows XP-based machines and they would not get any, only the new Vista. Is XP gone for good? Thank you.

Windows Vista won't be on the market until Tuesday, January 30, so there's no way it can be on sale on any PC today. What Best Buy (and, in fact, every other retailer I've checked) is selling is a standard Windows XP machine. Many vendors have been offering free upgrades to one of the various versions of Vista to be shipped to you at a later date. These have been being offered for a few months now, in order to keep PC sales moving as consumers like you wait for the new OS to arrive.

So... what was Best Buy telling you? I find it unfathomable that they would have no computers in stock with XP installed, as they would have nothing but Macs on the shelves. Either the salesperson was mistaken or was simply trying to get you to come back later in order to buy a Vista machine. If you do want an XP-based machine, plenty are available at various retailers or direct-from-the-manufacturer websites like dell.com and hp.com. Even bestbuy.com has about a dozen XP machines in stock right now. (Update: A Best Buy employee states in the comments that his store did indeed sell out of XP PCs, intentionally, before Vista's release, in order to limit returns. I stand corrected.)

But to answer the broader question you raise an interesting point: When will Windows XP no longer be for sale on new machines? For many sellers, that day will be January 30. After existing stocks are sold out, vendors will be rushing Vista machines to the shelves immediately. I expect any lingering machines with XP on them will likely be returned to the manufacturers to make room for Vista PCs.

Same probably goes for large manufacturers. You won't be able to buy a machine loaded with XP unless you make a fuss: Big business customers, for example, won't be upgrading immediately to Vista, and they'll want machines with XP (or even Windows 2000) in order to maintain compatibility with the rest of their computers. You'll probably be able to get someone to sell you an XP machine, but you may have to talk them into it. (I'm spot-checking with a few big sellers and will update this post appropriately with my findings.)

Still, many sellers will have XP machines for the next six months to a year. Shop around until you find what you want.

As for boxed copies of XP, I expect these will stay on store shelves for some time, at least 15 or so years. It's relatively simple, in fact, to find copies of Windows 98 and even Windows 95 for sale (and cheap, too). If you search for it, you can find even older software like Windows 3.1 and pre-Windows DOS 6.0 for sale. Because there have been so many more copies of Windows XP sold, however, expect them to be available for a long, long while.

Gone for good? In the world of software, there's no such thing.

UPDATE: I just heard from Dell and it basically confirmed all of the above. Here are more details. Most Dell PCs will be available with Vista only on January 30, but business customers will have 90 days to purchase XP-based machines online. (After that, business customers can still get XP if they coordinate with Dell's custom integration team.) The other exception will be gaming systems, which will still include XP preinstalled for an undetermined amount of time (Vista will be included on disc).