Another score for the demanding masses, Microsoft decides to add another few months to XP’s lifeline.

Large PC manufacturers were slated to have to stop selling XP after January 31. However, they have successfully lobbied Microsoft to allow them to continue selling PCs with all flavors of Windows XP preloaded until June 30, a further five months. Microsoft also plans to keep XP on retail shelves longer and will allow computer makers in emerging markets to build machines with Windows XP Starter Edition until June 2010.

The move indicates the continued demand for the older operating system, some nine months after Windows Vista hit store shelves.

In recent weeks, several PC makers launched programs that allow new PC buyers to more easily “downgrade” their Vista Business and Vista Ultimate machines to Windows XP. Fujitsu, which was among those lobbying for the change, has started including an XP restore disc in the box with all of its laptops running Vista Business.

Although Vista, after reviewing some comments of SP1, now performs almost at par with XP, it still isn’t a worthy investment. At such a hefty price tag, you get very little improvements in terms of functionality and performance (if you’re running an older system then you’d probably experience slow downs), little support for older applications like games?even the much awaited DX10 isn’t making any geek happy, hardware compatibility problems and networking hassles. Vista is still young and is no more as stable as when XP was first released but why opt for something more expensive when you can get something better for less?

After Microsoft’s announcement, you can now worry less about what version of windows is included with your next PC purchase.