Microsoft Windows XP is still used by the majority of business around the world and it’s proving hard to get some people away from it. Well, Microsoft and it’s hardware partners are moving to make it more difficult to stick on XP and this is, in my opinion, a good thing.
What’s Happening?
From October 22nd 2010, downgrade restore media will not ship in PCs or Notebooks from HP.
If customers still require XP downgrade media, they will need to speak to HP support. A key bit of information is that this service will
“be available through HP Support until the end of July 2011”
which suggests in 10 months time, this service will be discontinued completely.
This isn’t specific to HP and is in fact a Microsoft directive that applies to all hardware OEM partners, although I believe the cut off dates may vary slightly.
Cloudy with a chance of Licensing 