Dell, HP keeping Windows XP alive

Kevin Kutz, a director in Microsoft's Windows unit, said that the downgrade-rights option meets customer needs.

"While (computer makers) continue to see large numbers of customers making the transition to Windows Vista, there are some pockets, like small business, that need a little more time. And from what we've heard from our partners, the downgrade rights option fulfills that need," Kutz said in a statement.

"XP will hit an end-of-life," Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said in Belgium recently. "We have announced one. If customer feedback varies, we can always wake up smarter, but right now, we have a plan for end-of-life for new XP shipments."

And yet all of this prompts to the real question - why Microsoft will not just extend the deadline- The company's basis that customers and computer makers are not demanding a longer life for XP seems to be increasingly questionable.

The latest twist of HP and Dell deciding to sell machines that have Vista rights but contain XP pre-installed beyond June 30 in a way reflects what the consumer is actually demanding.

The pre-downgraded PC option is just the latest way that PC makers have responded to stronger-than-expected demand. After shifting largely to Vista after its January 2007 mainstream launch, Dell and others quickly began adding more XP options in response to customer requests.