On June 30, 2008, the last PCs with Windows XP were sold (theoretically) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) went hard on Vista, its less than celebrated operating system. I was one of the hold outs, opting to buy my laptop with Windows XP last year even though Vista was being touted as the latest and greatest system. Today, I am sure the remaining XP devices are going for a premium.

What does this mean for the future of PC sales? I think there will be some measure of reduced PC sales in the short run just because the economy is already suffering and consumers and businesses are looking to stretch their devalued dollars.

It also means that some people that do not want the burdensome Vista system and all the baggage that goes along with it will be opting for Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) Macs. There are many people like me who have been weighing the switch to a Mac for a while. The rest of my household has made the switch (4 Macs, 1 PC) and I did consider this prior to my last purchase. I may swing the other way next time.

For other PC users who remain satisfied with XP, they may not only think to stretch their dollars, but try and hang onto their PCs longer until the value proposition for Vista becomes more convincing. I can always add more memory or speed to my existing computer.

I do not know what the trade-off is for Microsoft. It would make money selling the XP system as well as the Vista system. Any slowdown of PC sales or continued movement toward Apple products has to hurt revenue a little?

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. He writes the columns Chasing Value and Serious Money.

A week from today, Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) will no longer allow computer manufacturers to sell Windows XP.

That's right, "Ole Softie" is basically stating that new PCs must come with a flavor of Windows Vista. Although Dell, Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) will let customers keep a pre-installed version of Windows XP for a fee, the general consensus is that if you want a new PC with Windows XP on it from the factory, you better order it this week.

Windows XP will still be available from those generic "beige box" system builders until January of next year, so all is not lost. But from major computer manufacturers, it's gone next week.

Windows Vista has gotten a ton of bad press in the last year though hundreds of millions of the system have shipped already thanks to it coming pre-loaded on desktop and laptop PCs from all the leading PC makers. Still, there are some "keep it simple stupid" customers that have written off Windows Vista as being a slothy hog of an operating system and only want Windows XP on that daily-driver PC that may be a few years old, but works perfectly and is very stable.

Moral of the story -- if you've been waiting to order that new laptop with pre-installed Windows XP get that order in now or get ready to use Windows Vista.

We've all been hearing it -- Microsoft Corp.'s (NASDAQ: MSFT) failure to win over consumers and business users with the Windows Vista operating system is causing sales of the older Windows XP operating system to stay afloat. Microsoft doesn't want this, of course. It's true that the software maker has shipped more than 140 million copies of Windows Vista, but since Vista is the default operating system on millions of PCs, it's pretty easy to do that.

Some corporate customers, though, have bypassed Windows Vista completely and will wait until the next round. This is Microsoft's Achilles' heel -- some companies won't fix something that isn't broke. General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) even says that "We're considering bypassing Vista and going straight to Windows 7," in reference to Microsoft's next operating system due sometime in the future. Yes, many large companies are indeed taking Windows Vista in -- but it's mostly due to not having much choice with changing out entire computing infrastructures for a global corporation. It takes a visionary IT leader to do that, and those are hard to come by in many cases.

And therein lies a big problem for Redmond. If customers aren't excited about its new operating system, why would they think Windows 7 will be any better? It's hard to fathom Microsoft pouring $5 billion into Vista and being shunned left and right. The software maker's operating system and Office productivity business subsidizes all its other products where it may make little or no money. But what if Windows is destined to become a slow-growth industry? If that's the case, where is Microsoft's growth engine going to come from in 2010? 2012? It's making gobs of money now. Will it last? When its main product underwhelms much of the market, the question has to be asked.

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) says it will sell its older OS Windows XP for another two years. The company announced that "the extension is designed only for ultra-inexpensive desktop and laptop PCs too limited to run the Windows Vista system," according to The Wall Street Journal. XP was supposed to go away because it is old.

The explanation sounds bogus. Microsoft's new OS Vista has had reasonable sales, but reviews of the software say that it is full of bugs and does not help PCs work well with other devices like printers. Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) has been pushing its OS not just for Macs but directly into the PC market. The company claims that its product works better than Vista and it appears that some consumers are buying into that claim.

There have also been reports that some corporations do not want to upgrade to Vista and will keep the old Microsoft OS running until a version after Vista is produced.

The Microsoft move may have a silver lining. Customers and businesses that want the latest and most powerful Microsoft product can buy Vista. Those who are concerned about the software can use XP, instead of considering the Apple alternative.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

CNN had a story yesterday showing gains in Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) market share in operating systems. The recent gains in market share must be hard for Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) to ignore. It also has to make life harder for Linux and other O/S makers.

The data released yesterday, showed that the MacIntel systems had a 4.01% share in December and the Mac OS share was 3.28%, making it a combined 7.3% share in December. While the data shows that Microsoft still dominates with a 91.8% market share, it also shows that it has lost ground for seven of the last eleven months. What is interesting is that out of this 91.8% market share for various Windows O/S sales is that 76.97% is still windows XP and only 10.43% is for Windows Vista.

CNN's story covers a survey from Net Applications that uses a sample of visitors to some 40,000 websites operated by its clients rather than a total number of computer systems sold. So there is still some room for interpretation here.

Linux was shown as having a 0.63% market share. While that is up 10.5% from the previous 0.57% readings, it shows that Mac truly is the envy of Linux creators. It is also interesting that, at least according to this survey, much of the Windows sales might still be going into Windows XP rather than Windows Vista.

Imagine a product that many people do not think works well but sells millions of copies. Well, that's Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT)'s operating system, Windows Vista.

According to the FT, both business and personal computer users have tried to stick with older versions of the Microsoft OS, Windows XP, but adoption is still good enough to drive outstanding earnings for the world's largest software company. As the newspaper says: "None of this, however, has had any discernible impact on Microsoft's financial fortunes. Many companies buy their software from Microsoft under an arrangement called Software Assurance, which lets them upgrade to new software whenever they like in return for a fixed annual payment."

Perhaps that is what having a monopoly is all about. Even if products are not perfect, they are adopted. Even if companies normally would not make an investment, they are on an "automatic upgrade" program.

It might be nice to think that Linux or Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) new OS, Leopard, would get wider adoption, but based on most figures, the Mac has no more than 5% of the global PC market and no open-source desktop program has significant market penetration.

It's good to be king.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

In a move I thought I'd never see, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) looks to be reversing course a little and trying to get a version of its Windows Vista computer operating system as an option on the $100 "One Laptop Per Child" project spearheaded by MIT to place computers into the hands of as many kids in distressed and poor nations as possible.

The project itself is highly admirable, as its goal is to connect kids to a world that expands their horizons and hopefully leads some countries from destitute status to growing, civil communities that are empowered by the knowledge that lives on the internet every day, as well as connecting citizens to one another and students with much-needed tools.

In the past, Microsoft has shunned the project, probably since it was slated to use a generic Linux operating system that provides no revenue to anyone -- not exactly a business Microsoft wants to be in. However, it also takes future customers away from Microsoft's revenue prospects in developing countries where PCs may pave the way for computer industry growth in the future. Talk about a dilemma.

As someone who recently purchased a new PC, the last thought that crossed my mind was waiting for Windows Vista. I needed a simple and cheap work machine that was stable. WindowsXP Home was just fine with me, so I purchased the new PC about a month ago and it's been working just fine since. Of course I loaded on spyware catchers and virus protection as well as email spam blocking software. If a PC is protected very well, these issues are generally not a problem -- and at least for me, they have not been.

But after reading that Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) may be giving heavy discounts to purchasers of new PCs this holiday season, or even coupons for free upgrades, I was intrigued. Perhaps I could receive a copy of Windows Vista for next to nothing or even for free? But then the sensible me woke up and said, "don't mess with something that works" -- and my new WindowsXP system works, and works fine. Why would I need a coupon for Windows Vista? Because I get hooked like many consumers by the word "free."

Is it in Microsoft's best interest to give heavy discounts to consumers and businesses buying PCs now for the newer and unreleased Windows Vista operating system? With Windows Vista having been delayed until well into the shopping season, Microsoft probably hopes to ensure consumers don't wait for newer PCs and slow down this holiday's sales at all -- which are typically the largest season for new PC sales, along with the back-to-school season. With HP, Dell and Gateway offering upgrades to Windows Vista for free based on recent purchases, this is a decision I'll have to make soon, along with many of you.

Well, isn't that a catchy headline? That is the prediction by the world's largest software manufacturer, but, in the Japanese market only. Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ: MSFT) has a bold prediction that users of its upcoming Windows Vista operating system will surpass users of its existing Windows XP operating system in Japan within two to three years after Vista's release. That's quite a boasty statement, and it intrigues me why Microsoft made this announcement applicable only to the Japanese market. What about the rest of the world? Huh? Huh?

An enlightening note on why this prediction was made centered on the PC replacement cycle -- which is the opposite of a hard sell for Microsoft. As customers and companies replace older PCs with new ones (for some odd reason), these newer systems will of course come with Windows Vista pre-loaded on them.

I still find it odd that companies have some insatiable need to "replace" perfectly working PCs every three years or so with newer systems -- are tons of state-of-the-art applications being installed consistently that turn two-year-old PCs into wasting pieces of junk, or are companies just antsy to spend their budgets in fear of losing the money? Sounds pretty efficient for the bottom line if you ask me. Not.

Anyway, as Japanese customers toss out the old and bring in the new -- with Windows Vista sitting on that new 250GB hard drive -- it's a pretty obvious natural side effect that Windows Vista usage will surpass Windows XP usage pretty quickly. What I am more interested in is how many customers will upgrade existing PCs to the new Windows Vista operating system. Simply placing Vista on new systems with partners like Dell and HP distributes the new operating system with little effort from Microsoft.

[Disclosure: I own MSFT shares as of 10-18-06]

One of Google's missions is to bring the world's information to everyone possible using any method possible. With that said, it's good to see that much of what Google produces in terms of product can be accessed by customers using either the Windows operating system or the Apple Mac operating system. Is this a coincidence? Hardly.

Most of what Google produces is platform-agnostic, and that's by design, of course. The platform used by Google is the web browser -- the operating system is an afterthought in a manner of speaking. Yes, there are Google applications like Google Earth and Google Picasa that are actually installed programs -- not web-based ones.

But still, most of the great stuff Google produces just needs a standards-compliant web browser (that's an oxymoron). If you use Windows XP, MacOS X, Linux, Unix, FreeBSD, you name it -- most of the Google universe is available to you with an Internet connection and a web browser.

The point made in the source article is that soon, many questions about "software" won't be mentioned as in "for Windows or Mac." Soon, it may take on the phrasing of "Windows, Mac or Google." That's an odd thought, but true. Just like the Internet itself, Google has designed and is designing everything to be universally open and accessible from almost every possible angle.

As a GOOG investor, this is a key thing to keep in mind -- the barriers to entry are almost non-existent and the product release schedule is not dictated by any third party. Google may just be the next operating "system".