It seems the petition to extend the deadline to decommission Windows XP has not fallen on deaf ears. There has been widespread concern and opposition amongst the business communities in upgrading to Vista as it requires increased hardware resources and additional training for the new GUI.

Microsoft says it will continue providing mainstream support to users until Jan 2009 and provide extended tech support for patches and security updates until 2014.

The operating system will also be available for sale via system builders until the end of January 2009.