On June 30th Microsoft will no longer be shipping Windows XP with new PC's. However, there is an option if your BUSINESS depends on Windows XP. Note the key word BUSINESS, as in NOT a consumer. Consumers don't really depend on Windows XP and should be migrating to Vista.
Anyone making a new PC purchase will have to make a decision about which Microsoft operating system they choose to use. Microsoft WILL support Windows XP through April 2009 for bug fixes and security updates in what they call "Mainstream" support. Microsoft will also support Windows XP through april 2012 under "Extended" support which could require payment for bug fixes and security patches. You can read the details on Microsoft's web site here.
Buyers of Vista Business and Vista Ultimate versions can buy "downgrade" rights to run Windows XP Professional (not Home Edition which most consumers use). XP Professional is the version used by virtually all business PC's in corporate and education environments and has always been more expensive that XP Home Edition. For a business buyer that has usually purchased Windows XP Professional, the additional price for buying Vista with downgrade rights compared to buying XP Professional is negligible.
For a home user, it will cost more to get XP. The comparable cost of buying Vista Home Premium compared to buying a Business or Ultimate is significant enough to make you think about whether you really need to get another Windows XP system with a price difference of about $75-$80 between the two. In addition to having to buy the more expensive edition however, you will also need to buy the "downgrade" package with XP. Dell is offering XP pre-installed for $99 at a promotional price good only through July 7th. It's not clear what the price will be after that time.
Microsoft got a lot of bad press about Vista when it rolled out because it sacrificed some compatibility in return for better security and stability. Service Pack 1 is shipping with Vista and I've had a Vista system for over 6 months and haven't had any issues with it.
I did need to purchase a new versions of some applications that didn't have upgrades to Vista so there was some addtional expense involved. If you have applications that are more than a year old running on your XP machine, make sure the software manufacturer has updates for Vista or you may not be able to use it or have to buy an upgrade version (updates are usually free, upgrades you pay for).
Microsoft is moving us all to Vista whether we like it or not and with Service Pack 1 and over 120 million Vista licenses sold it's not a problem to buy on a new PC. For anyone with an existing PC, I recommend keeping the operating system that shipped with it but for new PC's, a move to Vista is more an issue of seeing if you can use the applications you are using now.
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