Good news, Vista haters and XP lovers: Microsoft is extending the sales period for Windows XP, for both retail buyers and computer manufacturers, to June 30, 2008. Smaller computer builders can preload it until January 31, 2009, and in "emerging markets" with "hardware-constrained ultra-low cost PCs," the reprieve has been granted until June 30, 2010.

Wow, color me stunned. Microsoft is certainly a long way from reaching "acceptance" in the five stages of grief, but at least it is now starting to tiptoe past denial over Vista's poor reception. I guess we're now in the third stage: bargaining. ("Just give me five more months and I'll prove that Vista doesn't suck.")

Then again, Microsoft's faux Q&A on this issue (see link below) is filled with self-aggrandizing praise for Vista, how much consumers love it, and how it's going to be the fastest-selling OS of all time. But all the bluster doesn't change the fact that something is down-right rotten in the state of Redmond. In all my years of following the company, I've never heard of backpedaling like this: First it's allowing users to downgrade to XP, now it's un-killing a six-year-old product so people can keep buying it in lieu of a brand new one. Does this sound like a company genuinely pleased about a product that's breaking sales records?

Still, it's nearly inevitable that the day will come when XP is finally given the Old Yeller treatment. But perhaps if customers continue their protests, they'll at least give XP enough of a life extension to survive until Vista's successor comes out... which may just be less tragic. Maybe.

LINK: Microsoft Extends Sales Availability of Windows XP