Windows XP to be available into 2009

If you’re like some business owners, you may fear being taken away from your Windows XP systems kicking and screaming while being forced to convert to Windows Vista. For some, lack of support from software and hardware vendors may be preventing you from migrating to Windows Vista even if you wanted to. The Vista challenge in today’s business not only is a problem that you may face, but if it’s going to prevent the masses of Small and Medium business owners from buying those new PCs then HP and Dell have a bigger problem; no sales.

Fortunately for the big name PC makers (namely HP and Dell) and those of you unable to make the switch, there is a phrase that might just keep you running on your beloved Windows XP even on brand new desktops. That phrase being “downgrade rights”.

Downgrade Rights is a feature of the Windows Vista licensing agreement for the Business and Ultimate editions of the new operating system (OS). What this means to you is that your new system purchase with Windows Vista/XP-downgraded is that you’ve actually purchased a Windows Vista license with the option enacted to have a downgraded business OS pre-installed. In effect, you do actually have a Vista license for the system even though you cannot or do not wish to run the new OS.

Big name PC makers plan to offer the pre-downgraded system until July 30, 2009 thus buying you another year to upgrade your hardware without necessarily upgrading your Windows operating system.

Now the catch here is that you must actually request the Windows XP-downgrade, meaning that you may find it difficult after the June 18^th end of XP system sales in retail type stores. Per the agreement (technically), retail stores could not stock systems pre-loaded with a Windows XP-downgrade. Additionally, the downgrade will be available for business systems, not consumer models, thus further limiting the retail stores that typically stock the consumer grade systems. This means that although your office will be able to keep XP on its new systems, the same may not be so for that new home PC that you wanted to buy after the June 18^th XP deadline.

Nonetheless, the day will come when there will be no option to get your beloved Windows XP so make sure you’ve got it on your agenda to check your compatibility for Vista and start adopting it once all of your line of business software and various hardware is ready to support it. Although the Pre-installed XP-downgrade may be your saving grace to hold on to the legacy Windows this time around, there may be little to no hope to get new systems with XP once this option expires.