Today Microsoft has confirmed that Windows XP 64 will not be sold to the general public. A while back rumors popped up that Microsoft would only ship Windows XP 64 to OEMs. It appears that rumor was true even though it"s a pretty odd move.
A product manager at Microsoft has told developers how his firm proposes to market and sell Windows XP64 - the version of the OS that will support iAMD64 chips from AMD and Intel. Brian Marr, Microsoft" Windows XP64 product manager, filed details of the move on a private Windows server 64 newsgroup. Marr admits that the current beta build is "very old" but he said that Microsoft is trying to get an update out soon. He said: "I think you are going to be impressed by how much work our development team has put into the OS".
Marr said that a technical beta programme is currently suspended, but Microsoft will open it up again after XP SP2 ships. The big question, however, is what happens when Windows XP64 ships, and Marr says the operating system will be available on "some" new OEM PCs. "The OEMs are responsible for deciding which systems they want to support it on," he wrote. "The OS will be part of MSDN" and Software Assurance, he continued.