Microsoft: No More Windows XP For Netbooks From October 22nd

Windows XP has survived a whole lot longer than it ought to have – predominantly after getting a second lease of life on low-powered netbooks – and while they've warned manufacturers of such machines about the deadline for new installs before, there was a sense that we'd always be seeing XP as at least an option.  However, Microsoft has sent out a reminder to OEMs that, as of October 22nd 2010, they won't be able to use XP Home and must instead look to Windows 7 Starter Edition.

Although at one point that may have sounded like a significant change, Microsoft are claiming that sales stats indicate 81-percent of new netbooks in the US actually use Windows 7 rather than any other OS.  More pressing, then, is the end of XP SP2 support, which is due to lapse on July 13th 2010; after that point, you'll need to be using XP SP3 which is supported up until April 2014.

[via GoRumors]