Microsoft stated recently that it will extend the sales of Windows XP Home to manufacturers beyond the current deadline of June 30, 2008. This is to accommodate the new class of ultra-low-cost laptops that are showing up throughout the PC market, which are known as ULCPCs. Windows XP Home will be available for manufacturers to install on ULCPCs either until June 30, 2010, or one year after the availability of the next client version of Windows, whichever date comes later. It was previously reported that Microsoft would extend XP's life for these machines, and it seems a coin flip will determine the actual date.

Though Microsoft has not yet revealed when it expects to release the next version of Windows, code-named Windows 7, it's safe to say that it may not be on the public market until early 2010. Apparently, Microsoft is willing to extend the availability of a seven-year-old operating system because it doesn't want to give up the ULCPC market to Linux. But Microsoft claims it's customers and partners are driving the extension.

Still, if Microsoft is willing to allow manufacturers to put a version of Windows on devices up to nine years past its release date when there will be not just one but two XP successors on the market, then the company recognizes a threat from Linux in that market. For example, Asustek's $250 Eee PC, which was released in October 2007, runs the Xandros distribution of Linux.

Linux also was supposed to be the operating system for a forthcoming line of ULCPCs based on new Intel Atom processors that are due out later this year, laptops Intel is calling Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs). Intel said the MIDs would run Linux and established Moblin.org, to develop a version of the open-source software for the devices. However, Intel claims that both Windows XP and Vista also will run on the Atom-based MIDs in addition to Linux. Intel's devices will be designed with support for Vista in mind.

Since Intel's MIDs are not expected to be available until after XP's current June 30, 2008 deadline, this likely inspired Microsoft to change its XP availability policy. On the ULCPCs that are currently available for the market, Vista is not an option because of its memory and hard-drive requirements. Microsoft has no plans to change Vista to make it more suitable for ULCPCs, and forthcoming ULCPCs will evolve to the point that they can run Vista.