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"XP will hit an end-of-life," he told reporters at the opening of a new Microsoft press office in Belgium. "We have announced one. If customer feedback varies we can always wake up smarter but right now we have a plan for end-of-life for new XP shipments."

The statement is not the first time Microsoft has wavered on XP's deadline. The OS was originally planned to be culled in January but the deadline was extended to June. And earlier this month Microsoft said XP would

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continue to be made available to low-cost laptop makers after the cut-off.

Ballmer claimed the company had yet to see any significant demand from customers over extending the XP deadline, despite Dell's decision to launch a new range of Vostro laptops with the option of having Windows XP pre-installed.

When quizzed about whether it would continue to supply XP-loaded laptops after the deadline Dell would only respond: "We're here to supply what customers want."

XP has recently received its third Service Pack, with Microsoft keen to downplay the benefits as Vista flounders.