Following a decision to extend the cutoff date for OEMs and resellers buying Windows XP, which effectively enables customers to stick with the aging operating system until Windows 7 arrives, Microsoft has launched a new web site just for Vista users: answers.microsoft.com. Currently in beta, the site is an official tech support forum run by actual Microsoft employees willing to help out users having problems with Vista.

The site is designed to provide solutions in a Q&A format. Users can subscribe to a question they ask and be notified via the web browser, e-mail, or RSS whenever an answer posted – either by Microsoft support professionals or other forum members. You can sift through the forum’s content as a guest but will need a Live ID account in order to ask questions or share your knowledge with the community. The lack of support for XP is something of a disappointment, though, with so many people still relying on it.