Loopholes keep Windows XP alive

[TheRF]

PC makers are finding ways to keep selling Windows XP despite Microsoft efforts to remove it from sale. Dell, HP and Lenovo are exploiting loopholes in Microsoft's licensing terms to extend the operating system beyond a 30 June end of life date.

XP is being phased out in favor of Windows Vista which has, so far, got a lukewarm welcome from many firms. The news comes as Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer hints that XP could live longer if enough customers demand it.

Long life: Dell is using a clause in the conditions for Windows Vista which lets it provide XP under the terms of a "downgrade license" for the Business and Ultimate versions of the new operating system.

This means that Dell can install Windows XP Professional for free on its Latitude, OptiPlex, and Precision machines. In the main these deals are meant for business customers.

For consumers and small firms Dell will, for a fee, install XP Pro on Vostro and XPS gaming machines. HP is also using the "downgrade" option to keep selling XP with some models until 30 July 2009.

In all these cases a PC is logged as a Vista sale and, in effect, is being sold with an unused option to upgrade to the newer operating system. With some machines Lenovo is installing Vista but including a XP recovery disk so owners can roll back to the older software.

The news comes only days after Microsoft reported its third quarter results down 11% largely due to a fall in sales in its Windows software division. Despite this Microsoft said its sales of Vista licenses stood at 140m - a figure that was in line with its predictions.

At the same time Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer said that XP could get a longer life if enough customers demanded it. During a Q&A session at a press conference in Belgium Mr Ballmer said: "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."

Microsoft has extended the life of Windows XP Home until 2010 on low-powered PCs, such as the Asus Eee, that might struggle to cope with Vista's power demands.



More PlayStation 3 News...

[Wookard]

We have a deal with IBM and the School Boards in our area and multiple customers want XP instead of Vista... only prob is the Load Set is 7 CDs!!!. It takes roughly 5-6 hours to get a system up and running from scratch. I finally got an image created and just waiting it out for the next system that requires XP...

[jimbob3000]

Newsflash Microsoft, people are already demanding xp back since vista is a such a piece of trash. I personally would never install Vista in any business environment, it is just a headache waiting to happen. Microsoft better get their stuff right in Windows 7 or there's going be problems.

[ModderFokker]

I installed Vista (came with new system) but almost immediatly wanted to install XP.

However it wont let me install it now... lol

Think i have to externally format the HD on another PC.

[Starlight]

Just put in winxp disc and reboot pc and when it says "boot from cd" press the the enter button and start a fresh install of xp, make sure in your bios though that your cd/dvd writer is the first boot device.

And when you get to the spot where you can delete the partition in the xp install delete it and contining installing xp, this should work this way i am thinking.

[sanmadjack]

I'm glad to hear that PC manufacturers are actually listening to the wants of customers. The companies that try to sell XP despite Microsoft's attempts at forced obsolescence are the ones that are actually paying attention to the communities.