Want XP on a Dell? That'll Be $50, Please...

Well, it's the last official day to get XP installed on a Dell without paying a "downgrade" fee. If you're looking for the low-priced Vostro line of desktops and notebooks - bring your piggy bank.

It'll cost $20-$50 more to have XP Professional installed as a downgrade to Windows Vista Business or Vista Ultimate. Oh yeah, and if you want to downgrade to XP Home - you're S.O.L. - you can only choose XP Professional (which is better, if a little more expensive).

You could, however, choose the more expensive Latitude, OptiPlex and Precision systems and downgrade for no cost - but those machines will set you back the extra $20 to $50 anyway.

Also notice that you have to pop for Vista Business or Ultimate versions in order to be eligible for the downgrade. Those two options are the "high end" of the Vista scale in terms of price. Here's a for example:

If you add Vista Ultimate to a Vostro 400 desktop it'll cost you $149 more than the default Vista Home Basic; choosing to downgrade from Ultimate -- Windows XP pre-installed and the Vista Ultimate installation disc in the box -- costs $169, a surcharge of $20.

And, the best part is - you don't get the XP re-install disc! Hey, great move Dell! I guess this is so that when (not if) your hard drive fails, you can see the error of your ways and install the most hosed piece of crap ever invented "true" operating system - Vista.

To be fair, it's not really Dell's fault - at the end of the day, Dell is only doing what it's supposed to do according to their OEM license with Microsoft.

Microsoft will stop giving computer makers an OEM licesne for XP after June 30th (12 days from now) and will stop selling boxed copies to retailers on that day as well.

My advice? RUN down to BestBuy and get as many of these things as you can afford. Then you can charge all your friends, co-workers, in-laws and relatives cost + $75 to get XP after their hard drive fails or when they realize they need to have a four processor, 32 core system with 8GB of RAM to get Aero to work properly.

I can understand Microsoft wanting to get people on to the "new" code base. It's going to be the basis for their next OS version - and it makes life much easier for THEM - in terms of upgrading.

The interesting thing - is that Microsoft has relaxed the XP OEM licensing until June 2010 for these new subnotebooks like the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) and the Eee PC.

Ah, so I get it. Those low-cost, ultraportable notebooks don't come with four processors and 8GB of RAM! So for those people, XP is the ONLY alternative (short of Windows Mobile!) that Microsoft has for them.

Good thing Dell also offers Ubuntu Linux right out of the box - NO extra charge... no downgrade B.S....

XP Death March Is On (UPDATED)

Well folks, we're into the last 30 days that Microsoft will allow OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturers) people put XP on new machines.

There will be downgrade rights will still be available to some customers, and system builders can ship PCs with XP through January 2009 - but even then, it's still only 6 months away.

UPDATE: Apparently I'm not the only one that hates Vista. This just in: At the Computex trade show that opened today in Taipei, the company said it would allow computer manufacturers to pre-install Windows XP. Home on what it called "net-tops" -- which it defined only as "low-cost desktops" -- through June 30, 2010. Source: ComputerWorld.

I know that there are a bunch of you who are holding out hope that Microsoft will grant a reprieve to PC makers and allow XP distribution beyond the limited time frame.

Don't hold your breath.

Microsoft would be crazy to do it - it's much more their style to force their Vista crap down everyone's throat - if for no other reason then to boost their "units shipped" numbers. Last week, CEO Steve "Stevie" Ballmer coughed up the total number of units shipped: 150 million.

That's not a bad number - but there were over 330 million PCs shipped (minus servers) between Jan 1, 2007 and March 30, 2008. That's roughly 45%.

But that's probably generous. Let's say they shipped on a third of the machines - with the rest going to Linux, Mac, and lots of people with pirated Windows copies. Now if Microsoft has a 92%+ share of the PC marketshare - that equals a bunch of folks who are not upgrading to Vista.

So - OF COURSE! I bet this sounded good at the management meting: "I know - let's STOP shipping the OS they like (or will at least tolerate in relation to crappy Vista) - and FORCE them to use Vista. Our numbers will skyrocket overnight!"

You had better get your new XP machine now while they're hot - or you'll be doomed to Vista until Windows 7 comes out...