Microsoft upset over HP, Dell packaging Windows XP over Vista
By Justin Montgomery
While Microsoft recently reported it has collectively shipped some 180 million units licensed with Windows Vista, the numbers might not exactly ring true thanks to reports from HP, Dell, and others that say they’ve been opting to ship PCs downgraded to XP instead. Microsoft’s 180 million units-sold figure is therefore misleading since it includes these units that don’t truly include Vista.
Since the June 30th cut-off of Windows XP sales, PC manufacturers are keeping their Vista licenses intact, while downgrading pre-packaged PCs to XP which users seem to prefer. Since licenses for XP are no longer available, manufacturers have to find some way around it, according to InfoPackets. To Microsoft, it’s seen as an increase in Vista sales, which resulted in the inflated figure that Microsoft is now using to boost public opinion of its not-so-popular OS.
HP and other manufacturers have been told by Microsoft that after January, 2009 they won’t be able to continue this practice, but a coalition is being formed to persuade Microsoft to push back this deadline. As fuel for the argument, feedback from HP customers reveals that they hadn’t had the time to do full compatibility testing of all their business applications with Vista and the high time and monetary costs of rebuilding system images wasn’t worth it, especially in this economy. Microsoft most likely won’t hear such an argument as it knows how bad Vista is doing among business customers. Interestingly enough, the company has seen an increase in XP use among businesses since the introduction of Vista.
In a survey reportedly conducted by a systems management appliance company, 60 percent of those surveyed have no plans to deploy Windows Vista and 42 percent are actually exploring Vista alternatives. 11 percent have already made the switch to Mac OS X or Linux. Sorry Microsoft, the outlook isn’t getting any better.
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August 3rd, 2008
Too bad some of us who bought Dells in the last part of last year got stuck with Vista.
Course some of the bad taste is from the lack of help I got from Dell when Vista proved to be something from the depths of hell. (uncounted BSOD’s)
sigh,,,,,
Dell and maybe even MS are probable gonna lose me as a customer, wonder if they care.
August 3rd, 2008
please, please, people, whatever you do stay away from that freely available, free to use as you see fit, free to install on many machines, and highly secure, piece of garbage operating system that looks like a penguin. please go out and spend exhorbitant amounts of capital on the other alternative that has the same restrictive license called mac.