I don’t think this move has much to do with Vista backlash, but Microsoft is allowing OEMs to pre-install Windows XP on retail computers five months longer than originally planned. As of the end of this coming January, PCs were to have a Vista license, but you’ll see new XP computers available at least through the end of June 2008. XP licenses will continue to be available through that time, which should help folks on older PCs still running Windows 95 or 98.
Due to driver challenges and more robust system requirements for Vista, I think this is a good move. There’s a large number of consumers that consider their computer a multi-year investment. Chances are: if that computer is more than a year or two old, it might not be up to speed for a positive Vista experience. Now’s probably a good time to point out that Vista still runs very well on my Samsung Q1P UMPC, although I have upgraded the RAM to 2 GB. Vista SP1 shows no noticeable performance differences, but to be honest, I had relatively few issues to begin with.
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