Windows XP Not Quite Dead Yet

Laptop Magazine has posted an informative FAQ on the official demise of the Windows XP operating system. 

Among the useful nuggets of info in the FAQ is a summary of "downgrade" options.  If you order an new PC with Vista Business or Vista Ultimate, the computer maker is permitted by Microsoft to offer you the option of downgrading to Windows XP Professional:

OEM versions of Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Ultimate provide the end user with downgrade rights. What that means is that under the license terms (i.e. the EULA), users have the right to downgrade from Windows Vista Business or Windows Vista Ultimate Edition to one of the following: Microsoft Windows XP Professional, Microsoft Windows Professional x64 Edition, and Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP MCE both come to an end of life on June 30, 2008.

Although neither the OEM nor Microsoft is obligated to supply earlier versions to end users under the end user licensing terms, Microsoft is enabling OEMs who manufacture OEM Activation-enabled Windows Vista Business or Windows Vista Ultimate systems to order Windows XP media so they can include the disks in-box.

How will computer giants Dell and HP implement the downgrade option?  The FAQ states:

Even before June 30, Dell ceased selling laptops and desktops with Windows XP installed as the primary and only OS (without getting it via a downgrade right program). The absolute deadline for all system builders manufactures to stop selling systems with Windows  XP as their primary OS is June 30.

However, Dell will still offer Windows XP Professional by purchasing a PC with “Windows Vista Business BONUS” or “Windows Vista Ultimate BONUS”, which allows Dell to exercise "Windows Vista downgrade rights" by preinstalling Windows XP Professional and providing the installation disc for either Windows Vista Business or Windows Vista Ultimate.  This is so users can transition to Vista when they are ready.

HP tells us that they will continue to offer the downgrade to XP Professional option on its business systems through at least July 30, 2009. These systems are pre-installed with XP Pro, and the customer receives a Vista license so that they can upgrade to the new OS when they are ready. The HP systems come with restore discs for both operating systems.

This is good news, sort of, for those who remain Vista skeptics and are trying to get by until the release of Windows 7.