Infoworld editor Eric Knorr declares victory in his publication's mock PR battle to get Microsoft to "save" Windows XP. And I can see why.
A big thank you to all those who signed our Save Windows XP petition. Given Microsoft's past behavior, we didn't expect a response when we sent 210,562 names to Microsoft on June 27, nor did we receive one. But we can all congratulate ourselves on a partial victory, including the availability until 2010 of "low-power" systems with XP and the Vista-to-XP downgrade option offered by major PC vendors. Those concessions, along with the accelerated schedule for Windows 7, might not have happened if you hadn't made your voices heard.
Just so we're clear, he's taking credit for:
1. The availability of XP on "low power" PCs ... which was required because Vista can't run on them, not because of any online petition.
2. The "Vista-to-XP downgrade option" which is, you know, a long-standing option Microsoft has offered for several years and several product versions, and not something new.
3. Microsoft "accelerating" the schedule for Windows 7 ... which they didn't. In fact, Microsoft has been eerily consistent about the timing for Windows 7 since last year.
So that's quite the list of concessions, guys. Nice work.
BTW: 210,000 signatures represents about 0.03 percent (three tenths of one percent) of all XP users, assuming there are 700 million XP users worldwide. It could actually be higher.
Hey, whatever. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!
Thanks for the pointer, David.