If your PC is running Microsoft Windows Vista Business or Windows Ultimate and you're fed up with the OS, you may be able to ditch Vista for XP Pro.
Microsoft lets Vista users revert back to XP
The software giant is now allowing some customers who are fed up with Vista to revert back to XP, and has started to provide PC builders will a 'downgrade' option on Vista Business and Vista Ultimate.
Several PC makers – including Fujitsu, Lenovo and HP - are already offering XP Restore discs, with a Lenovo website for downgrading to XP Pro stating: "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."
Business customers were already able to switch from Vista to XP under their licensing agreements, but the new Restore Discs will simplify the process.
Dell’s small business sales team told PC Advisor’s sister title, PC World, that customers who purchased a system with either the Vista Business or Ultimate operating system could pay an extra $20 (£10) to have XP Pro recovery discs shipped with the machine. Customers don’t need an extra Windows licence for the XP Pro software.
Microsoft has previously admitted that Windows Vista sales have not met expectations – earlier this year it reduced its forecast for Vista sales while increasing its projection for XP shipments.
However, the desire to revert to XP Pro from Vista is a business trend, not a consumer trend, according to Chris Swenson, NPD Group's director of software industry analysis.
"Retail consumers are not requesting to go back to XP," Swenson said. Businesses are more sensitive to upgrades because Vista requires a more robust computer to run programs at peak performance. Vista requires better graphics and memory than XP, forcing companies to spend more on systems, he says.
Tom Spring from PC World US contributed to this story
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Comments
markbrett said: I bought a new pc one week ago It has 1gig DDR2 which I heard was good enough for Vista to run efficiently While speed was adequate out of the box as soon as I added antivirus office etc the whole system bogged down and now I am looking at spending 80 for another gig of ram or returning the machine for a 15 loss restocking fee Im leaning on returning it and going out and buying a MAC VISTA BLOWS and if I make the move to another operating system Mr Softy has lost another customer forever I will call Mr Softy this afternoon and if they refuse to give me XP for free I will have no other choice than to return my box DONT BUY ANY VISTA SYSTEM Reminds me of Windows ME - a junk OS that never lasted
Aardvark Technology said: Vista is badly received period I dont have a single client who has a good thing to say about Vista and 100 of them would revert back to XP given the chance If you have to use Vista load XP on another drive or partition and VistaBootPro will allow you to change XP back to being the default OS As for me - I now use an Intel iMac and couldnt be happier
Helena said: Why Doesnt MSNs Work On Windows Vista Home Edition
Brian Collins said: I have a VERY negative experience with Viste I use it only becasue it was installed on a new 12GHz Dual-core laptop with 2GHz of RAM Its slow and VERY unstable even with only part of my usual software installed It stalls and crashes It requires rebooting to find wireless networks Its slow It needs upgrades of several well known applications at considerable cost Help get me out of here
Roger carpenter said: If Microsoft is able to give Vista Business or Ultimate the chance to go back to XP why not those of us who are frustrated with Vista which keeps crashing my Compaq presario every so many weeks You cannot restore more than two restores Wheras Xp you could go back several weeks with more than enough if anything went wrong Vista is a flop and microsoft and finally met there end of the computer having their software The next computer i get will be an applemac
Roger carpenter said: If Microsoft is able to give Vista Business or Ultimate the chance to go back to XP why not those of us who are frustrated with Vista which keeps crashing my Compaq presario every so many weeks You cannot restore more than two restores Wheras Xp you could go back several weeks with more than enough if anything went wrong Vista is a flop and microsoft and finally met there end of the computer having their software The next computer i get will be an applemac
sam mike said: Its true when manufactureres know that vista is going to take more memory resources why do they have it first of all and recommend the customer to upgrade to 2 GB MemoryThis is Redeculous
Barbara Prowse said: Retail consumers are not requesting to go back to XP Perhaps because they do not have the clout of businesses or previous experience of Windowscomputers My daughter for one wants to go back as she finds Vista is slow and unwieldy Of course she and I are old XP hands Many people are not But she still has a problem as she cant see how to regain her old settings
michael eade said: unlike xp vista home basic is not entirely backward compatible for earlier windows programs or add ons and is too large for a laptop to run efficently a real battery killer unless it is constantly running of the mains
Lionel CHANDLER said: Its about time the great MS joined the Open Source brigade and made evrything totally compatible I hope Europe stick to their gunsand finally break the horrid monopoly MS has got Why call it a downgrade Vista itself was a downgrade Ihope Linux finally gets clearance where progress is blocked by MS Copyright and protocols
graham timmis said: thay should never used it in the first place untill was working right a lot of people wasted a lot of money on a load of rubbish
ray hibbert said: typical of microsoftafraid of admitting theve boobed again with a product that has been released before all the buggs have been sortedjust like flight simm xhas anybody told them prosessors are not meant to run a100 all the time with both programes mentioned above myself ive gone back to xp pro and flight simm 2004sort yourself out microsoftyou can only fool people some of the timecarnt youray
J Blake said: Save time trouble and money by switching to Linux or have Linux as a second os - not forgetting that the majority of Linux distributions also carry an Office Suite also for free and can importexport Microsoft Office files up to MS Office 2003 plus get all the bells and whistles that Vista promised but failed to deliver
Michael Hargrave said: Phil YoungVista probably needs new sound drivers to work properly as well as video drivers as all have developed new drivers for VistaFor my own part I dont like Vista much but the Windows Media Center in Vista is better than xpMCE2005 and has software embedded for connection to an xBox to use as an extenderHowever all that said I agree that xpMCE2005 is overall better and though I can re-install XP its now not worth the trouble and I will wait for SP1 with interest Remember XP was not up to scratch before the SPs
phil young said: i had to revert back to windows MCE because when vista was installed i could not play sound properly this problem did not occur in MCE and could find no reason why it had a problem in vista
Robert Ovel said: I have vista on my new Pc a high end gameing system But still run Xp on my old Pc The only problems I have had are Drivers for printers and scanners Virgin medias Pc Guard will not run so norton is the only solution When Xp first came out was it just as under prepared for the customers as well I have heard notthing but complants about vista But have no problems with it other than drivers and third party softwareIs there enough thought going into the system vista is running on after all a mini wont pull a caravan
Robert Ovel said: I have vista on my new Pc a high end gameing system But still run Xp on my old Pc The only problems I have had are Drivers for printers and scanners Virgin medias Pc Guard will not run so norton is the only solution When Xp first came out was it just as under prepared for the customers as well I have heard notthing but complants about vista But have no problems with it other than drivers and third party softwareIs there enough thought going into the system vista is running on after all a mini wont pull a caravan
Sami said: It seems Vista isnt going well at all my suggestion is throw it on downloadcom for free and carry on selling XP P maybe that way they will have a few hundred users satisfied with Vista
John Edwards said: Vista Constantley sorting out problems Or trying toToo vast to mentionMy advice for and prospective PC user is to steer clear of VistaLets face it Microsoft is still corrscting fualts with XP although it is now a lot faster than vista and compatible with most hardware and softwareIf you like solving problems get Vista
John Edwards said: Vista Constantley sorting out problems Or trying toToo vast to mentionMy advice for and prospective PC user is to steer clear of VistaLets face it Microsoft is still corrscting fualts with XP although it is now a lot faster than vista and compatible with most hardware and softwareIf you like solving problems get Vista