Microsoft’s new Vista operating system hasn’t been that warmly received thus far and many individuals and large corporations have opted to stick with Windows XP. Microsoft had declared that sales of Windows XP had to halt on June 30th.

Microsoft has decided that it will extend the life of Windows XP and allow it to be sold until June 2010 with a major caveat. The OS can only be sold on cheap desktops. A similar announcement was made in April allowing the XP OS to be sold on cheap notebooks.

This change will allow the XP OS to be used on machines like the cheap E-box from Asus while it is being used on the Eee as well. The move is viewed widely as an attempt to keep Linux from becoming the OS of choice for low cost machines.

Via BBC News