XP deadline extended toward launch of Windows 7

Microsoft has acknowledged that it will allow system builders to pay for installed copies of Windows XP through May 30, rather than shutting down the pipeline this month.

Combine this news with reports that Windows 7 may ship as early as mid-2009, and it looks like Microsoft is ready to relegate Vista to the binary scrapheap. Maybe the company's recent $300 million marketing push for Vista wasn't so successful as Microsoft claims it was.