Windows XP - The OS that Just Won't Die

Rob Williams

Editor-in-Chief
Staff member
Moderator
From our front-page news:
Late next month, Windows Vista will turn two-years-old, at least on the consumer side, and what an interesting two years it's been. The launch was rough, but things started to smooth out over time, and for the most part, Vista is more stable than ever, and a lot easier on the nerves to use. But, there still isn't enough reason to make the shift for some people, so Windows XP continues to flourish.

As mentioned in the previous news post, Vista is gaining market-share, but XP is still the choice of many, gamers or not. Most of my family prefers XP, and even though I tell them that Vista has improved quite a bit since launch, they still don't show interest in making the shift. That's the case for a lot of people, but thanks to a recent change by Dell (and presumably, backed by Microsoft), the choice of XP is going to be made a lot more difficult.

Dell has offered XP "downgrades" on select machines for a while, with a small fee, but "small fee" it is no longer. Rather, it's been bumped up to a staggering $150 (OEM Vista's cost less than this), which is truly ridiculous. You have to realize that the $150 would be on top of what the Vista license would have cost, so you're essentially paying almost twice for an older OS.

Analyst Rob Enderle said it perfectly, "that the desire is there at all should be disconcerting for Microsoft". It's true. If there are that many people still interested in XP, then there's an obvious problem with Vista (or marketing). They can't just sit around and wait for Windows 7 code to finalize, and punishing users who don't like or understand Vista isn't the way to go. Something tells me that this fee won't last for too long, but stranger things have happened.

windows_xp_desktop_screenshot.jpg

Enderle said the XP downgrade charge and the resulting pressure to move to Vista will put a magnifying glass on Microsoft in the coming year. "Instead of charging a penalty for XP, Microsoft should provide incentives for Vista," he says. "They are too focused on margins for one product and are forgetting the damage they are doing to their brand."


Source: PC World
 

Merlin

The Tech Wizard
From what I see in the field,
one of ten use Win Vista over Win XP
one of one hundred us Win ME ( I hate that OS )
one of 50 use Win2000
People generally stay with the OS that comes with the computer allready installed, they don't want to or know of installing another OS
For an example........Most would not even dare to take the panel off the side of the case, there is still a fear of the computer in general. much less, upgrade to another OS
They just want their email to work and they are happy.
 
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b1lk1

Tech Monkey
If they can't steal it, they won't use it as well.

I would say that most XP users don't want to spend the money for Vista, although I don't see any compelling reasons to do so. If you already own XP and your PC is doing everything you need, there is no logical reason to switch.

Anyone stupid enough to downgrade to XP for a Dell deserves the high cost since it is a stupid idea.
 

Kougar

Techgage Staff
Staff member
Anyone stupid enough to downgrade to XP for a Dell deserves the high cost since it is a stupid idea.

I gotta disagree here, sorry. I would agree with you for the majority of desktop Vista systems.... but for laptops, this is completely untrue. Vista runs like [insert vulgar expletive here] on any kind of non-DTR laptop and doesn't run at all on many netbooks. Unfortunately this is where Dell charges laptop buyers $99 to downgrade to XP.

Vista is simply slow and chugs on most dualcore laptops. The battery life is laughable compared to XP, and compared to OS X it's simply ludicrous. Simply changing your OS from VIsta to OS X will almost double your laptop battery life, and I only link to AT because their article was at the top of Google's results. These results have been duplicated at other sites. Link

Web surfing... 2.5 hours vs 5? DVD playback... 1.5 hours or 3? Sure, I will grant Vista possibly may have lacked proper drivers to save on hardware power usage, but even then that wouldn't explain doubling the battery life. Vista has the most important power saving drivers already installed for Intel's CPUs and peripherals.

Results like these just show how inefficient Vista is. It may run half-decently on a desktop, but it was never designed with any kind of efficiency in mind.
 
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