Microsoft bans XP from new installs on netbooks

If you're a big fan of XP - or more likely an enthusiastic preferrer of it over Vista who has yet to move every application, desktop, laptop, tablet and tucked-off-in-a-corner obsolete PC acting as a firewall or spam filter -- to Windows 7, today is a significant step toward permanent change.

As of today, Microsoft won't allow manufacturers to install XP on new netbooks. That doesn't mean corporate customers who special-order hardware with XP won't be able to get it, or even that its market share ( 60 percent!) will drop any time soon.