By no surprise Microsoft announced to extend the availability of Windows XP until 2010, which was supposed to be discontinued this summer. We all know Windows Vista’s got quite bit beefy system requirements and no way suitable on ultra low cost PC’s like Asus Eee PC or similar. So Microsoft decided to allow system vendors to preloads the Home edition of Windows XP on "ultra low-cost PCs" (ULCPC) for an extended period. It’s not that Microsoft don’t want users to go for Windows Vista …

After Microsoft made the Vista SP1 public a lot of users had encountered serious problems with SP1, including machines that refused to reboot, botched installations and ongoing driver support issues. Microsoft has responded to numerous complaints about its new service pack for Windows Vista with an offer of free support for anyone having trouble installing or running the update. According to Microsoft’s support Web site "unlimited installation and compatibility support" for SP1 free of charge until next March. Microsoft normally only offers free support to customers who’ve bought retail versions of its software. …