Dell, HP and Lenovo are reportedly keeping XP alive by exploiting loopholes in Vista licensing agreements. Under the terms of a "downgrade license" for the Business and Ultimate versions of Windows Vista, PC manufacturers are keeping XP flowing out the door. According to the BBC "... PC is logged as a Vista sale and, in effect, is being sold with an unused option to upgrade to the newer operating system". It will be interesting to see if this constitutes enough interest in XP to keep the OS alive. HP apparently is using the "downgrade" option to keep selling XP with some models until 30 July 2009 which exceeds Microsoft's deadline on the product by a year. The sales are however being considered Vista sales and have contributed to a reported 140 million licenses of that OS being sold to date. Your move Mr. Ballmer...
