Businesses who aren't yet fully comfortable with the idea of running Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system (OS) on their PCs, may now be given the option of switching back to Windows XP on some new machines thanks to a new 'downgrade' option the software giant has made available to PC manufacturers.
Because of training and hardware upgrade costs, many business purchasers have been reluctant to make the upgrade to Vista, and this move will enable them to purchase new machines and still run XP.
The option is only available on Business and Ultimate versions of Vista, but several manufacturers have already started to offer XP Restore discs. Fujitsu and HP have already begun offering the discs with selected business machines, although it's too early to gauge how popular the option has been for either manufacturer.
Other manufacturers are offering the discs to purchase, and some are even setting up websites with advice for those wishing to downgrade.
Customers have always had the right to downgrade from Vista to XP, according to the licensing agreement under which it's purchased, but the addition of these restore discs makes changing the OS a far easier procedure.
There has been a steady demand for new copies of Windows XP since Microsoft launched Vista, causing some to speculate that it will move its 31 January 2008 deadline for resellers to stop offering the OS as a pre-installed option.
