What do Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, and Windows XP all have in common? No matter how hard you try, it seems you just can't kill 'em.
Microsoft
A major reason for the success of the XP platform is the surging popularity in netbooks. Since the cheap, portable laptops come with as little as a half gigabyte of RAM, XP or an open source Linux alternative are the operating systems of choice over the memory-hogging Vista.
However, even outside of the realm of netbooks, consumers are still drawn to Windows XP. It works. It's time-tested. It doesn't have those "I'm a Mac" Apple
Earlier this month, Dell
No one has any idea if the market will warm up to the eventual rollout of Windows 7 any better than it has to Vista. It's in Microsoft's best interest to have many flavors out there. It may confuse inexperienced computer shoppers, but Microsoft has to stay relevant even if it means becoming the Baskin-Robbins of operating systems.
The world is gaining on Microsoft. Apple's platform is eating market share as a result of wider adoption of its MacBooks. Some netbooks are shipping with the Linux-based Ubuntu system, a troubling trend starter if the growing popularity of cloud computing makes more users OS-agnostic. There are plenty of free online apps out there like Google's
Microsoft is no longer calling the shots. Consumers are in control. If they want to see XP live on, it will, no matter how many times it gets stabbed.
