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The Christmas season in Winston-Salem got a little less bleak last week when Dell announced that it wasn't going to close its Forsyth County plant in January after all.

But the announcement isn't exactly a Christmas miracle: It simply postpones the inevitable shutdown of a factory that promised to be an economic savior for the city.

When Dell opened its Forsyth plant in 2005, it said it would employ 1,700 people by late 2010. By the end of 2008, Dell's payroll had reached about 1,400 workers. But the economy and the personal computer market both soured, and Dell started letting workers go in late 2008. By May, employment had dipped to 1,140. The final blow came in October, when Dell announced it would close the plant at the end of January.

The announcement was the latest of bad news in Winston-Salem's job picture. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco has cut 80 percent of its local work force since 1983. The city eventually lost about 1,300 workers -- and a corporate headquarters -- after First Union bought Wachovia in 2001.

But then something odd happened: Dell last week said it was delaying its shutdown for another three months. Instead of losing their jobs on Jan. 30, the plant's final 400 employees will be working through the end of April.

Winston-Salem leaders were pleased that Dell is postponing its plant closure. It gives workers three more months of employment. It gives the city and state three more months to hunt for a new tenant.

No one is suggesting that Dell has changed its mind and might actually stick around after all. Dell has fallen to No. 3 in the global personal computer market behind Hewlett-Packard and Acer. Worse, Dell's major customers are businesses and government, and sales in both segments are down sharply, according to the company's latest earnings report.

True, Dell did say it has seen an upswing in demand recently -- that's why it decided to keep the Winston-Salem plant open three extra months. But it's folly to think that a three-month delay is anything more than a temporary reprieve.