Dell recycles Windows XP Customers ignore Vista By Nick Farrell, The Inquirer, Friday 20 April 2007, 06:48 HARDWARE MAKER Dell said that it will start offering Windows XP on its products despite the wish of Microsoft for the outfit to just flog Vista. Dell switched nearly entirely to Vista-based systems in January, but it has been finding that its customers have walloping the outfit's online suggestion box IdeaStorm asking for XP to be bought back. According to the IdeaStorm page Dell has heard the message "loud and clear" and will be bringing the Windows XP option back to its Dell consumer PC offerings. Hewlett-Packard, CompUSA, and Lenovo are still flogging XP on some machines. Dell is only offering XP Home and Professional as options on four Inspiron laptop models and two Dimension desktops. However the move is bad news for Vole, which wants people to move away from XP and buy Vista as soon as possible. Microsoft was expecting that people who were planning to buy a new PC would go for Vista, it appears that there is a hard core that do'nt want to touch it. A spokesVole was not phased. He told news.com that it was only a small minority of users who wanted XP, the vast majority wanted Vista...
Dell brings back XP on home systems By Ina Fried, NEWS.com, Story last modified Fri Apr 20 06:25:23 PDT 2007 Dell is bringing XP back. Amid significant customer demand, the computer maker said on Thursday that it has returned to offering the older Windows version as an option on some of its consumer PCs. Like most computer makers, Dell switched nearly entirely to Vista-based systems following Microsoft's mainstream launch of the operating system in January. However, the company said its customers have been asking for XP as part of its IdeaStorm project, which asks customers to help the company come up with product ideas. "We heard you loud and clear on bringing the Windows XP option back to our Dell consumer PC offerings," Dell said on its Ideas in Action page. Users get to vote on various suggestions, and the notion of bringing back XP got 10,000 "points," making it among the most popular requests but well below top picks such as adding Linux or OpenOffice.org to its PCs. Windows XP systems became scarce, but not impossible to find, after Vista arrived. For example, Hewlett-Packard said it would continue selling XP on some machines aimed at small and midsize businesses, while CompUSA still stocks a couple of business-oriented XP systems in its retail stores. Lenovo has also continued shipping XP on many of its business systems. Starting immediately, Dell said, it is adding XP Home and Professional as options on four Inspiron laptop models and two Dimension desktops. Earlier this month, Dell added XP back as an option for small-business customers, but at the time, it said it would not add it back for home users. "Dell does not have plans to launch Windows XP for home users as the preference, and demand is for the 'latest and greatest' technology, which includes Windows Vista," Tom West, director of small-business marketing at Dell, said in a blog posting at the time. Analysts say Dell's move is not a good sign for Windows Vista. "That there is remaining demand from some segment of (the) consumer market points to the inability of Vista to resonate with consumers," IDC analyst Richard Shim said. There was an initial bump for Vista sales right after its launch, Shim said, but some of that may have been from consumers who delayed purchasing a PC late last year. Sales in the later part of the first quarter were less strong, he said. The overall response to Vista will become clearer throughout the year, he said. Current Analysis research director Samir Bhavnani said most of the demand for XP he sees is from small businesses, rather than consumers. "They know that XP works," Bhavnani said. "It's not that they don't want to upgrade to Vista. They just don't want to upgrade to Vista yet." In a sense, the issue isn't the relatively small number of PC buyers demanding XP, but it's whether Vista is having any affect on the PC market as a whole. In announcing PC sales data, Gartner said this week that Vista's launch "had very limited impact on overall worldwide shipment demand on a quarterly basis." Bhavnani blamed some of the lackluster results on a lack of marketing, noting he sees more ads for Apple than for Vista. "It's been a very soft launch," Bhavnani said. "I think you will see Vista create additional demand for PCs in the back half of this year." [spin city chorus] Microsoft product manager Michael Burk said in a statement: "Dell is responding appropriately to a small minority of customers that had this specific request. But, as they have said before, the vast majority of consumers want the latest and greatest technology, and that includes Windows Vista." The software maker has said it will stop selling Windows XP to large PC makers by January. Smaller computer sellers, known as system builders, will be able to sell XP machines for an additional year. In a statement last week, Microsoft said such a move is normal after a new operating system comes out. "Windows Vista is safer, easier to use, better connected and more entertaining than any operating system we've ever released, and we're encouraged by the positive customer response we've seen to date," the company said. "It's standard practice to allow OEMs, retailers and system builders to continue offering the previous version of Windows for a certain period of time after a new version is released." http://news.com.com/2100-1046_3-6177619.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-5&subj=news CNET's "The Big Picture"
I just did that. Installed active kill disk on HD, wipe out at much as hd as I could, reformat with XP Pro, and I work well. As Gnome pointed out XP Pro supported until 2014, why switch?
"Certain period of time" must have been 'bout 5 minutes... Both Dell and HP ceased offering XP the day Vista officially went live. In addition to Vista being "not ready for prime time" at its launch, many of us were put off by Microsoft's attempt to CRAM VISTA DOWN OUR THROATS!! Even with the official offering date to end January 31, 2008... it will be the shortest transition period to a new OS. XP has been their best OS... and there is no pressing reason we MUST junk it for a new one... other than Microsoft's MONEY GRAB. I for one am hoping Vista falls on its ass like Windows Me...
Well all I know is that when I asked about 5 weeks on the E510 I just bought they said no, Vista Only. The models offered with XP Pro, guess what?, were about 200 buck higher. Active kill disk solved that though.
All EliteTrader Hardware and Software Forums readers are encouraged to let Dell know your computer & peripheral wants and requirements: Dell's IdeaStorm launched to obtain customer feedback in attempt to help recover market share lost to HP Some IdeaStorm Results
Good board and good initiative, we'll probably see the first Linux-Dell's very soon. But please don't think for a minute that the 'loud and clear' XP message came from the IdeaStorm board; it came from sales&marketing department I'm certain. The order-hesitation that rolls to another brand will have been very noticable in the sales statistics immediately. Ursa..
Who wants a dell anyhow? XP os disks will be available from ebay for under $100 for a while and if it is supported, for real, until '14 we are good to go. I kind of wonder what that support will consist of really though................
i have Vista on Packard, i dono if IT IS A problem with Vista or Packard i used to have XP on Toshiba, I had No problems i ones had a Dell and processor burned out after 3 months of use, i will never buy Dell again