Laptop buyers can choose XP

http://www.pcretailmag.com/news/28749/Microsoft-hand-out-XP-to-Vista-haters

Buyers of laptops with Vista Business or Ultimate editions installed will find they have the option to downgrade to XP as part of a scheme that Microsoft would prefer to be kept quiet.

Even though the company is pushing the Vista operating system hard, it has made an announcement via the Lenovo website, which sheepishly states that: “For a limited time only Lenovo customers that have Windows Vista Business or Ultimate installed on their machines will have the chance to purchase a Windows XP Recovery CD.”

Fujitsu, however, has taken disgruntled Vista users a bit too seriously and will be compensating by including a copy of Windows XP in the box with their laptops and tablets.

“That’s going to help out small- and medium-size businesses,” Fujitsu marketing manager Brandon Farris told CNET News.com.

Interesting article, dependent on my mood I move between feeling positive about Vista to my memories of spending £200 or so on Vista, finding it to be rather argumentative and slow on my Dell D505.

Let’s remove the emotion, for the business customer who’s got supported images, they’ll rebuild the laptop anyway with the standard build, for the small business, they’ll go with whatever the IT guys are comfortable with. Including XP in the box/on the drive is simply a tactic I suspect to limit debate, don’t want Vista, then fine, the cd’s in the box, fill your boots.

We’ll need to see going forward with Vista SP1 whether this activity continues, as much as I love XP (particularly on those pcs a bit too old for Vista but fine otherwise like my P3 X30 ThinkPad), it’s getting on a bit.