Microsoft extends Windows XP downgrade option

Christopher Jarman said on Thursday, 09 October 2008

Microsoft has always struggled to produce an OS as good as the RISCOS computers and until they change their views completely they will always have trouble.
People who bought Acorns or AppleMacs ten years ago are still using them in preference to anything that Microsoft has produced. The only reason for Microsoft's monopoly, is luck and the investments of big business in the wrong OS. One day it will be finished like the steam car! the next big OS will probably be LINUX or another completely free one.

Peter said on Thursday, 09 October 2008

How does one go about reverting to XP? Is it only possible with certain versions of Vista/XP?

Wrinkles said on Thursday, 09 October 2008

On the pack of the last software I bought it said " Requires XP, Vista or better. So I installed Linux.

Asterix said on Thursday, 09 October 2008

Is Christopher Jarman talking about computers or operating systems. I'm sure if Microsoft actually made their own computer their OS would work a lot better installed on it. No OS is without flaws, problems aren't limited to just the Windows software. Anyone whoever moans about Windows is never very specific about it, that's called "jumping on the bandwagon". If you are sick of the constant security issues & updates then blame the A$$holes who keep exploiting the system. The reason Windows "gets it" is because it IS more popular, why is that?

Numby said on Thursday, 09 October 2008

Peter....Read the label! You can only "revert" to XP if it's a twinload system where both operating systems are on the same machine, so the answer is Yes basically. If not a twinload system, then the answer is, you can install any OS on any computer providing you buy it of course and the hardware supports it, you can revert to any OS you want.
Wrinkles....You are so clever and you left us all hanging, pleeeeeease pleeeeease let us know if your "Requires XP, Vista or better" software worked on Linux...in fact, don't bother I can't take anymore smart comments today.

Ian, Glasgow said on Thursday, 09 October 2008

Vista is underrated. Most users have forgotten how bad XP was when it was launched (marginally less bad then Millennium!) with security issues and a lack of drivers. I run Vista on my laptop and it's great, Micrososft's latest campaign includes emailig registerd users with tips which have improved Vista enormously for me. I deleted XP from my desktop over a year ago to run Linux - it's great value for money and I'm not tempted to return to MIcrosoft. (I even managed to find a WORKING driver for my old HP printer which is more than MS or HP could provide for XP.)

At the end of the day people get overexcited about operating systems and the MS v Apple v Linux debate. It's like endless arguments about which brand of petrol you prefer (it makes no significant difference - read the Which? report) or which flavour of ice-cream is best (at least that's a subject worth debating).

I always go for chunky monkey. Tastes much better than XP or Vista.

Ray Woods said on Thursday, 09 October 2008

At last, Microsoft are getting the message. Most users prefer Xp to Vista. Not unremarkable when one considers the “improvements” Vista brings for the average user, which is none at all.

Most people just want to make and receive emails, surf the internet, rip music, play with their photographs, use word processors and spreadsheets, etc. All this, and much more can be done very well with Xp .

As Microsoft's silly idea of licensing their software to computers, not the people who buy the product, along with their “piracy” security stopping the transferring from a persons old defunct computer to a new one, they can only continue to shoot themselves in their corporate foot. (It was the reason I changed to openSUSE Linux and thence to 64 bit computing.)

Now that Open Source alternatives are now becoming more and more practical, both for Operating Systems and Application Software, the computer world is now entering a potential less bloated Microsoft-less era.

Captain Jerk said on Thursday, 09 October 2008

I don't know what all the fuss is about. I have friends who will not try Vista because they are happy with their Excellent XP install. I reminded some of them that before Vista was the new thing to moan about, all they ever did (and many others worldwide) was grump about XP.
Changing to Vista was the best thing I did to my computer. Over a year and not a single problem except outdated drivers, which is the hardware manufacturers fault, not Microsoft's.
No apparent slowing down of my PC that most harp on about and no problems with any comptability issues. The things people gripe about are things they read somewhere, not probs THEY are having.
XP was always hanging or proudly showing its famous blue screen. I haven't seen any of that for over a year now :)

Druid said on Thursday, 09 October 2008

For Numby's information, you do not have to have a twinload system. The downgrade to XP is only possible if you have Vista Business or Ultimate installed on your machine, this proviso is being used by Dell amongst others to supply their business machines with XP Pro pre-installed together with a copy of Vista on a DVD if you so wish to install that in the future, as if you really would!

Polymath said on Thursday, 09 October 2008

For people needing a new computer and sure they want XP, building your own appears to be a way to get it. I didn't realise that until I looked into a link in the same newsletter as this article, to a build-your-own supplier (Pcspecialist), which offers XP home/professional amongst the options.

I've already migrated from 98SE to machines compulsorily preinstalled with Vista Home Premium, so I'll never know what I'm missing!

Totally-braindead said on Thursday, 09 October 2008

I'm not surprised at the news as they are still selling PCs with a specification that struggles to run Vista. Buy a high end PC then fair enough but buy a basic PC and you might find its slower than the PC you bought it to replace.
I'm afraid I wasn't impressed with Vista at all and if you do get the chance to revert to XP you will find it so much faster you will think someone fitted a turbo to it.
I built a new PC a couple of months ago and what OS did I use? XP, it runs perfectly and speedily and does all I ask of it, the extras Vista give over XP was to me very dissappointing, if you do like it then fine, thats great, but I prefer XP.

The Undergardener said on Thursday, 09 October 2008

As a generalist, I've been using 'Windows' since the early 1990s when I thought it was really good. Since then, the number of 'new features' that I've personally found 'really useful' in later versions have been very few. Yet the cost of updating (driven by the withdrawal of 'support') has been enormous - very much a matter of dimishing returns. Good for MS but the users groan when we hear a new version is on its way.

dave said on Friday, 10 October 2008

MS really should permit "upgrade rights" to go from Vista Home/Basic to Windows XP. It's the low-end home machines that were sold as 'vista-capable' that would suck so much less with Windows XP.

Peter Martin said on Friday, 10 October 2008

A good idea to be able to downgrade to XP 64 BUT my supplier of my OEM VISTA 64 pack said they know nothing about this and wouldn't be giving out free disks, even if they had them!

Apparently it is OK for them to sell the original packs - as OEM packs - but not to support them!

Allan Williams said on Saturday, 11 October 2008

I am pleased to see and read the comments from Christopher Jarman, I too am a RISCOS user and have been since the Archimedes and can still use most if not ALL the application I purchased then together with the most recent applications, no matter which version of the RISCOS is installed!

The only problem with RISCOS is the lack of sufficient funds to advertise its advantages.

It proves no matter how good your product, unless it can be brought to the attention of the Media and the hard/software buying decision makers it will not be able to compete.

They will follow the crowd like sheep!

Numby said on Sunday, 12 October 2008

Druid, Have you actually used Vista? When I say "used" I don't mean teetered around with a display PC or used a friends computer for 5 minutes.
I already know it doesn't have to be a twinload system but if people want to complain about only certain versions of Vista they can downgrade with, then why not buy a twinload system and avoid the issue. I'm starting to believe that people are installing Vista for the sole purpose of finding a fault they can ramble on about. So what's your gripe about Vista? Ive used it every day for over a year and had not a single problem with Vista itself or anything installed on it or any hardware upgrades I have done.

Mohankumar Ramasamy said on Wednesday, 29 October 2008

I am using Lenovo ThinkPad T61 with Vista Home Basic with 2GB RAM. My biggest issue is slowness and hanging. The reason I could see is, resource hungry. It takes around 1GB of RAM, when I turn off all unnecessary services. I couldn't open much applications. I have also seen that Vista Home Premium takes 2.5GB of the available 4GB RAM. And mostly Vista requires nVidea or better graphics with more memory. Intel X3100 is not sufficient for it.

Where in Ubuntu, it works perfectly with the available resources. I haven't seen any graphics issue and it takes only 300+MB of RAM.

So if we have to reconfigure my system for every 3 years, it will be more expensive for any common person.