Windows XP life extended yet again to (possibly) 2011

Like Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part III, just when you think Windows XP is out... they pull it back in.

Once again -- and I've now lost count on this one -- Microsoft is officially extending the life of the venerable Windows XP operating system. Based on the company's new rules, the OS can be pre-installed on machines for up to 18 months after the general availability of Windows 7 -- or until Windows 7 Service Pack 1 is released, whichever is sooner.

Assuming Windows 7 ships in October as planned, that means XP may be alive and well until April 2011. On the other hand, Microsoft has been releasing Service Packs more quickly of late, and 18 months would be an awfully long time for Windows to go without a patch.

The move was apparently a response to Gartner's Michael Silver, who lambasted the company's previous policy, which would create only six months of overlap between XP and Windows 7, and which he saw as not enough time for large enterprises to manage the transition from one OS to the other. (And let's get real: No one is going to upgrade to Vista in the meantime.)

In response, Silver called the new policy "good" but "still not great."

His beef? Microsoft's Service Pack clause, which is as nebulous a term as one can fathom. Service Packs are really nothing more than bundled up collections of bug fixes, and there are no guidelines about how serious those fixes need to be or how many of them one needs in order to justify putting out a Service Pack of them. Microsoft could release Windows 7 Service Pack 1 a week after it was released -- citing whatever reasons it wanted -- and abruptly yank XP from the market. What's worse is that Service Packs can arrive without much warning, which would give businesses even less time to prepare for XP going off market.

As a side note, remember that XP is already technically at its end of life: It's no longer available at retail, and only extended support plans are available. Technically only businesses are supposed to be able to buy it. Microsoft will stop patching XP, as well, in April 2014 -- and that includes all security updates.

Unless it changes its mind. Again.