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Many not yet giving up on Windows XP

Microsoft is removing Windows XP from stores in an effort to hook users onto Vista. But many users are still attached to the old program, and Janet Babin reports problems with Vista mean XP might still be around for awhile.

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Scott Jagow: Microsoft is yanking Windows XP from the store shelves. After today, you won’t be able to get the shrink-wrapped software at most stores. Microsoft is trying to nudge people toward its new operating system, Vista. But for a lot of people, they might only go kicking and screaming. Janet Babin reports from our Innovations Desk at North Carolina Public Radio.


Janet Babin: For a lot of computer users, Windows XP is like an old shoe. Stable, reliable, comfortable. Not so with its new system Vista, that’s been on PCs since January. Users still complain about the glitches.

Twon Tran is a technology analyst with Morningstar:

Twon Tran: Windows Vista has been somewhat buggy, and Microsoft is still working out the kinks. Right now, there’s some portion of customers though that just want XP because they’re familiar with it and it works.

Microsoft received so many complaints about Vista that the company’s pledged to continue servicing the old XP system through 2014.

Ninety percent of the world’s computers run on Windows, and Microsoft collects a toll from all those PCs. But it still wants to keep customers happy. Especially now that you can access word processing applications — like Google Docs — right over the internet. No shrink wrap required.

I’m Janet Babin for Marketplace.

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