XP Pro for Embedded Systems

Posted on July 9, 2010 by Kristina
Filed Under General

Finding it difficult to transition from Windows XP Pro? Even Microsoft seemed reluctant to make final the end days of this ever-popular operating system. But now, after the initial End-of-Life (EOL) announcement almost a year and half ago (we were telling our customers to pre-buy licenses back in December 2009!) we are finally seeing inventory of this item dry up for good. But, inline with what we’ve seen with Windows XP Pro since the first EOL scare, it doesn’t exactly go away. It lingers long enough to give people hope.

So, good news! Windows XP Pro is still available, but under the guise of Windows XP Pro for Embedded Systems. It’s identical to Windows XP Pro; the only caveats—there is no media CD (so if your system crashes, it has to be sent back to the system builder for a re-install) and it must be initially installed by a certified Windows Embedded Partner because this version is offered through Microsoft’s Embedded Channel. The most important factor, despite these two minor limitations, is that this version of XP Pro will be available until December 31, 2016.

Because we are a certified Windows Embedded Partner, we can extend this offer to our customers. We won’t be able to sell the licenses separately; they must be installed by us onto a fully assembled system. Not too bad of a deal though, if customers still require Windows XP Pro.

Comments

2 Responses to “XP Pro for Embedded Systems”

  1. James Groenke on July 9th, 2010 12:38 pm

    I’m just curious, has there been any hint of an embedded Windows7 OS being made available? This is good news about XP Pro, tho.

  2. Kristina on July 9th, 2010 12:54 pm

    Hi James,
    Yeah, there’s Windows Embedded Standard 7 out there at the Community Technology Preview release stage. There’s an FAQ on it here. Not sure when we’ll see it here and we haven’t heard much demand for it; people are still stuck on XP Pro (and for good reasons I’m sure).

Leave a Reply