Tiny Diggers – An iPad Construction Truck Game for Kids Age 2-5

Microsoft announced today that WIndows XP will be available to OEM system builders for another five months. This extension comes after the the previous extension that was to end January 30th, 2008. The new date is now June 30th, 2008. So this begs the question of where the Vista OS, the gaming OS of the future, stands at this date and time.

According to the article, Microsoft claims 60 million Vista units have been shipped, but there is no breakdown of which versions of Vista account for the sales numbers. Most take the assumption that Vista Home Basic is the version that accounts for most OEM sales from retailers.

with help from Microsoft

While this does not affect most gamers in the sense that they do not buy gaming systems from the Dells or HPs of the world, it does affect how long it will take for DX10 and Vista to gain a major foothold in the gaming universe. If these deadlines are pushed back, what happens to manufacturers that are touting new pieces of hardware that use DX10, when XP cannot support it.

I had Vista on my machine, but I removed it due to too many naggling issues with hardware and video drivers. I liked it, but there is not enough there to make me run out and get a new video card ahead of schedule. And while games are starting to trickle out that support DX10, there is not enough copies of Vista out there in the hands of gamers that will support it.

The other problem with this delay is that it just opens the speculation about the possibility of DX10 coming to Windows XP. It also makes you wonder if Vista is a skippable OS, considering that its replacement, codename “Vienna”, is suppose to hit in mid to late 2009.

So don’t say goodbye to an old friend yet, because he has a new leash on life.