At long last, the Windows XP operating system - much loved by computer users - has been retired by Microsoft. The software giant is pulling the product from shelves over the protests of fans, who have been highly critical of its replacement, Vista.

More than 200,000 people signed an online petition organized by the folks at infoworld.com.

We began this campaign because our readers compelled us to do so. Those of us who have been in the industry for a long time have never seen anything like the negative reaction to Windows Vista. Our readers have frequently voiced their frustrations about software incompatibilities, arbitrary UI changes, expanded hardware requirements, and altered security business rules. On the other hand, we’ve also head from many users who are clearly satisfied with Vista.

The company says it will continue to support Vista users for another seven years, but sales of the operating system are essentially coming to a close. That means computer users will have some 18 months with Windows Vista, before its replacement, Windows 7, is released in January 2010.

Want more on Windows XP? Check out pcmag.com, where they’ve put together a cool package of articles about the XP affair. Be sure to read Lance Ulanoff’s take.

 Microsoft does its level best on its Windows XP page to discourage Windows XP nostalgia, touting Vista’s tremendous hardware support and compatibility. (It also notes that Vista has sold 140 million copies.) Apparently, 71 percent of Vista users like it better than their last operating system. What was that? DOS?

What do you think? Is the death of XP the end of the world? Are you in mourning?