Microsoft Extends Windows 7 to XP Downgrade
Windows XP now spans three generations.
As eager as we all are to install the final version of Windows 7 onto our PCs, businesses can’t deal with change that quickly, especially not when dealing with hundreds of systems and different compatibility issues.
The issue here is that Windows 7 will be shipping with most PCs by the end of 2009, meaning that businesses still running an older version of Windows will have to either quickly upgrade their systems or obtain some form of downgrade license from Microsoft. After all, that is what business have been doing with Vista.
Things potentially could have been a lot different with Windows 7. While both Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate come with XP downgrade licenses, Microsoft originally intended for the offer to downgrade only be good for six months following the general availability of Windows 7 on October 22, 2009.
This meant that businesses still running XP either had to purchase new Windows 7 licenses before April 22, 2010. Downgrades to Windows Vista, however, would continue to be available after that date. While Microsoft is keen to transition its customers away from an eight-year old OS, many felt that a six-month period is too short.
In response to this, Microsoft has decided to extend its XP downgrade period by another year, now making XP still a valid path for new purchases for 18 months after the release of Windows 7 – or until the first service pack hits (a point at which many business consider it a stable upgrade).
"Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate customers will have the option to downgrade to Windows XP Professional from PCs that ship within 18 months following the general availability of Windows 7 or until the release of a Windows 7 service pack, whichever is sooner, and if a service pack is developed," a company spokeswoman said in an e-mail to Computerworld.
And so, Windows XP lives on.
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I can understand people wanting to downgrade to XP, but who on earth would want to downgrade to Vista!!!
Having used 7 since beta, I foolishly gave Vista another chance for a fortnight thinking thhere would be correction updates, lessons learned from 7 for instance. No such thing, back to driver issues, games freezing and general occasional sluggishness whilst performing the simplest of tasks and of course, that feeling of 'bogged downness'.
I've dumped it for good now and eagerly await the arrival of 7 ultimate, my package of choice for the forseeable future.
I can then forget about the Os once again and get on with the business of actually using the computer for which it was intended.
9x wasn't very stable, NT wasn't all that polished and lacked drivers for some very basic things like PCMCIA, as far as I recall. I've been happily using Windows 2000 on my work machine for the last 6 years. XP might be better, but the only real reason to even use that, which I find personally, is the DRM stuff. Online TV generally requires XP upwards. As you can guess, I've no interest in Vista nor Windows 7. It only makes me yawn. Back in the 90's there was obvious innovation. Multi-tasking was good. So were scalable TrueType fonts. WYSIWYG, OMG! I'm simplifying, but since then MS has basically run out of things to do on the OS front. Want evidence? Take Internet Explorer, Media Player and the other bundled crap that comes with the OS. Take the resultant anti-trust proceedings. Take things like ClearType or Aero Glass, which only provide very marginal or questionable benefits. The reason businesses won't upgrade is not that they'd rather wait for the first service pack. It's because they don't have any true incentive at all.
it really depends on just how good 7 turns out to be - though tbh it looks to be an improvement on both vista & xp
personally I prefer vista to xp - it runs flawlessly, and I find it easier to do simple networking, where xp was pain
the interface on both is poor compared to rivals, but a quick trip to stardock fixes that for me
I don't get the whole "vista sucks" argument - maybe I'm just lucky
Its just widened the net is all, It just means that if a business IT boss would like to try W7 they have a safety net of downgrading to XP should the XP mode not work as expected or to their liking.So they can give W7 a good run for its money and if it takes of it does and if the boss gets the hump and starts ranting they can revert to XP.
Another cleaver move from MS i think
Mactronix
@FH: Just because there WAS innovation then, and there isn't amazing amounts now, it doesn't make the 7 years worth of change since XP worth nothing. Also, the bundled software is similar to what Apple does, and Apple are the epitome of "innovation" according to the general populace now.
Multi-tasking in the older OSes is also far worse. I can still remember how annoying it was not to be able to run a game and a decent web browser and a media player, and everything else (AV/ Firewall) at the same time without lag and delays. Now I run that, and usually a part of the Adobe CS4 suite all at the same time and Windows 7 handles it like a dream.
If you wish to stay in the past, then have it, but, the rest of us will be on the far improved Windows 7.
@Clintonio: Interesting. Do you put this down solely to the OS, or would it be the case that you are also running it on upgraded hardware, perhaps a Quad Core and additional memory, compared to the time you remember?
I also recently bought some Apple products, a Macbook and an iPod Touch and completely agree with you. Coming from Windows I find their stuff merely different and idiosyncratic. Some things are better, some are worse, most notably the lack of the (now fixed) cut and paste on the iPod, which was laughable.