Microsoft was and is very clear in its product life-cycle theories and the company has always followed them quite strictly. Couple of years ago Microsoft declared to reduce (and eventually end) the support for the aging Windows XP. Then it started reducing the number of automatic & recommended updates and only provided crucial security patches to XP users. But XP had its own charm which didn’t really nudge as Microsoft expected.

I think Microsoft doesn’t really care about Windows XP’s market-share and this is quite evident by Microsoft’s decision to gradually strip down support for XP in its upcoming products. Of course, from Microsoft’s POV, such a step is utmost important to increase the popularity of its new and advanced operating system – Windows 7.

A couple of weeks ago, Microsoft declared that IE9 won’t support Windows XP. Now, LiveSino reports that the system requirements of the upcoming ‘official’ beta version of Windows Live Essentials Wave 4 does not include Windows XP.

This means that the Wave 4 versions of the major applications like Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Movie Maker, Windows Live Writer, Windows Live Photo Gallery, etc. won’t support Windows XP. Microsoft has finally learnt the fact that for an average end-user, it’s the applications that matter and not the operating system. As long as their PC runs a particular application, an average user doesn’t really care to undergo an OS upgrade or worst, even bother to know what OS they use. Microsoft’s game is pretty simple – ‘You take away what they need and they’ll do whatever you want’.

Now please don’t take it as a bashing on Microsoft. Apart from panning end users’ attention to Windows Vista or 7, the major reason to abandon Windows XP lies in the fact that XP is a decade old product; incapable to support certain advanced technologies and thereby the applications built on them. However, it’s 2010 and it’s still a fat chance to bring down XP’s popularity in at least 3 years from now. And Microsoft sure knows it very well. Nevertheless, we are surely witnessing the beginning of the end of an era – Windows XP’s era.