Windows XP and its future!

Microsoft has been notorious for killing off old, perfectly good OS's for new and improved versions. WHY? Is it because they are a money hungry or is it that Bill Gates does not want to lose his piece of the pie. My opinion of why Bill Gates and Steve Baumer continue to put Microsofts' hand in everything is they are not only Tech guys but first and foremost Business men. They know, as with any business, if you become complacent and do not continue develop new products, marketing plans, retain customer base(not that is an issue w/MS) ,to evolve with the demands and the technology you will get ran over.

MS has developed a Timeline for XP in order for them to remain profitable all while pushing corporations and users(both with hesitation & resentment) towards Vista.

June 30, 2008
PC manufacturers stop selling computers with XP installed.

Jan. 31, 2009
Microsoft stops selling XP altogether.

April 14, 2009
Mainstream support (free live support and warranty support) ends. Free maintenance is limited to security fixes.

April 8, 2014
All support for XP ends.

I have heard some mixed reviews about Windows XP and its future in talking with some of the people I help out. These people happen to know what is going on because the majority of them are coming to me for consultative help to either transition back into the IT field or how they can make themselves valuable again because they have been displaced. The reason they are in the predicament they are in now is because they became to comfortable in their job role and did not think it necessary to update and develop their skill sets based on the current technology. Many have said that from a business stand point that it will be awhile before Vista is deployed in most corporate environments; hopefully the release of the Server 2008 and SP1 will help alleviate some concern. On the consumer side it has been pretty negative conversations overall due to the fact that the majority of consumers can not fork out money for new technology like Corporations can. Another note is that the people who do enjoy the features of Vista and would like to use it at home, their current hardware will not support it. I prefer XP Pro to Vista, for now, but the 2007 Office Suite is by far superior to the 2003 version.