The end of Windows XP is also the end of everything we grew up with in the Personal Computing business.

We're also saying goodbye to the PC as the preferred hardware for the average user, Windows as the standard operating system and the power of Wintel in our business lives.

Obviously, the death of XP is an arranged suicide, with Microsoft attendant in all the funeral details.

The commercial advantage, for Microsoft and its partners, is that this should spur sales for Windows 8 (and upcoming Windows 9).

Hopefully under better sales practice than one story we heard today: a woman in Belgium was told her PC "would stop" when the plug is pulled on XP support as her laptop would become so quickly "infected."  If that isn't apocryphal enough, the salesperson recommended immediately replacing the laptop with a tablet...

While some salespeople will take advantage of XP's death, it is also clear that commercial interests see the value in using XP's demise to encourage tech slackers to move forward.

New advertising campaigns by Microsoft and Intel point out the longevity of Windows XP in real years may be less than in perceived "technology years."  They have a good point.

To assist their retrospective-marketing approach, we are listing here the world as we knew it in 2001, the year Windows XP came to market...

WHAT HAPPENED IN 2001, THE YEAR WINDOWS XP CAME OUT?

• Jan 9th - Apple announced iTunes at Macworld Expo, San Francisco (back when Apple still attended Macworld).
• Jan 15th - Wikipedia went online.
• Feb 15th - First draft of the complete Human Genome is published in Nature.
• Feb 18th - Crash during Daytona 500 race on last lap claims life of Dale Earnhardt.
• Feb 26th - The Taliban destroy two giant Buddha statues in Bamyan, Afghanistan.
• Mar 25th - In the 73rd Academy Awards, "Gladiator", Russell Crowe & Julia Roberts win.
• Apr 28th - Millionaire Dennis Tito becomes the world's first space tourist.
• May 6th - During a trip to Syria, Pope John Paul II becomes the first pope to enter a mosque.
• May 13th - Silvio Berlusconi's House of Freedoms coalition wins the Italian general elections.
• Jun 7th - Tony Blair's Labour Party wins another landslide victory in the General Election.
• Jun 11th - Timothy McVeigh is executed for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.
• Jul 20th - The London Stock Exchange goes public.
• Aug 21st - NATO decides to send a peace-keeping force to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
• Sept 11th - Two passenger planes hijacked by terrorists crashes into New York's World Trade Towers causing the collapse of both & death of 2,752 people.Terrorists hijack a passenger plane and crash it into the Pentagon causing the death of 125 people. Attempt by passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 93 to retake control of their hijacked plane from terrorists causes plane to crash in Pennsylvania field killing all 64 people onboard
• Sept 29th - Syracuse Herald-Journal, a U.S. newspaper dating back to 1839, ceases publication-- an early symbol of the impact of internet on the newspaper business.
• Oct 11th - The Polaroid Corporation filed for federal bankruptcy protection.
• Oct 23rd - Apple releases the iPod.
• Oct 25th - Windows XP first became available.
• Oct 26th - The United States passes the USA PATRIOT Act into law.
• Dec 1st - The last flight of Trans World Airlines, ending 76 years of TWA operations.
• Dec 2nd - Enron files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
• Dec 11th - The People's Republic of China joins the World Trade Organization.
• Dec 22nd - Richard Reid attempts to destroy a passenger airliner by igniting explosives hidden in his shoes.
• Dec 27th - The People's Republic of China is granted permanent normal trade relations with the United States.

All the above history, if you can think back to these events and how long ago they seem, gives more authority to this photo (below) of the newest Intel advertisement:

Dog-eared XP will not only be buried, but will have to die under a new marketing campaign that paints XP as senile and... just too darn old.

History Source: http://www.historyorb.com/events/date/2001