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$50 to Get XP On a New Dell

CWmike writes "Dell will charge customers up to $50 for factory-installed Windows XP on some PCs after Wednesday, according to the company's Web site. Buyers of the low-priced Vostro line of desktops and notebooks will pay $20 to $50 more for Windows XP Professional installed as a 'downgrade' from Windows Vista Business or Vista Ultimate than they would for Vista only."

13 of 616 comments (clear)

  1. Re:$50 for assurance of less headache ? by KiltedKnight · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Then how much would you pay for Ubuntu, which causes even fewer headaches than Windows XP as long as GNU/Linux supports your hardware?

    Why, nothing of course. :)
    --
    OCO is Loco
  2. Re:It's like divorce by memojuez · · Score: 5, Insightful
    It's a pretty sad statement about a product when people are willing to pay MORE not to use it.


    Forget about Apple Mr. Gates, you're doing a good job of self-destructing.

    --
    Signature applied for, Patent Pending
  3. Better idea: by Penguinisto · · Score: 5, Insightful
    How much would they add as a surcharge to ship any model I choose WITHOUT a Microsoft operating system on it?


    As in: "...can you just send me the laptop with nothing at all installed on the hard disk? I intend to install (Ubuntu/Fedora/OpenSuSE) on it. No, I really don't want anything in the way of tech support outside of parts and labor."


    /P

    --
    Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
  4. Re:$50 for assurance of less headache ? by Penguinisto · · Score: 5, Insightful


    Then how much would you pay for Ubuntu, which causes even fewer headaches than Windows XP as long as GNU/Linux supports your hardware?

    ...as much free tech support for it (Ubuntu, or any Linux distro, really) as my friends and relatives can stand.

    ...time and effort in teaching others (including random strangers) how to use it if they ask.

    ...time and effort in explaining in detail how I manage to get neat stuff to happen on it (e.g. getting the Windows version of the 3D app Poser to work in OpenSuSE).

    ...any and all code modifications that I make to customize and/or bugfix any open-source component of it - even if I don't distribute the binaries or project source code myself.


    (there are many more ways, but yeah - it's worth paying-back that way, if not in other ways as well).

    /P

    --
    Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
  5. Re:It's like divorce by CastrTroy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's only sad because MS spent 5+ years working on Vista, and now people want to pay not to use it. It's not sad in the more general sense, that people want to pay more to use a better product.

    --

    Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
  6. 5+ Years by Kozar_The_Malignant · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I think this is a big part of the problem. When you have that kind of time line, the project loses focus. Remember all of the things that were supposed to be in Vista but were dropped along the way? There never seemed to be a clear vision of what it was supposed to be. It doesn't have to be that way. NASA certainly has shown that long term projects can have spectacular results.

    --
    Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
    1. Re:5+ Years by timeOday · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It doesn't have to be that way. NASA certainly has shown that long term projects can have spectacular results.
      Linux has shown that OS development doesn't have to be phased in huge long-term projects in the first place. The kernel changes continuously, often supporting both the current "best" way of doing something as well as the previous "deprecated" interface that will disappear after a few years.

      Now, you could say "you can't leap a chasm two inches at a time," but where is the great leap forward with Vista?

  7. Re:It's like divorce by Peet42 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's not sad in the more general sense, that people want to pay more to use a better product.


    Indeed, but for my $50 I would rather have a properly supported version of Windows 2000. It's all been downhill since there.
  8. Re:Hello! You get both operating systems. by NiceGeek · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you refuse to take Vista do you get the $50 back? No? Then people are still paying $50 to avoid using Vista.

  9. Re:Hello! You get both operating systems. by hansamurai · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yes, but Microsoft gets to say they sold a copy of Vista too, padding their sales charts.

  10. Re:It's like divorce by mrchaotica · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Activation." (I.e., having to beg somebody for permission to use your own property.)

    --

    "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

  11. Re:It's like divorce by Kjella · · Score: 5, Insightful

    WinME is just the wierdest release Microsoft ever did, only one year after 98SE and a year before XP Home, both technically and marketwise. In retrospect I think it was the Golgafrincham B Ark of Microsoft developers, where all the good brainpower was transferred to the 2k/XP line while those too incompetent to bring on and yet not incompetent enough to outright fire were left on the 98/ME line. The bean counters wanted some ROI so instead of releasing a service pack to 98 and so WinME came to be. I don't think Vista can be described in much the same way.

    That said, many people would use XP because it's XP and for no other reason. It has all the buttons in the right places and works exactly the same as it's "supposed to" work. Let others figure out the funny stuff for you, then you migrate when you need to. I migrated from 2000 SP4 to XP SP2, now I run XP in a virtualbox under Linux but maybe someday I'll upgrade to a Vista version too. Not today though, not tomorrow either.

    --
    Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
  12. How about a better deal? by cayenne8 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    How about an even better deal.

    Dell sells you the box without any software or OS installed, and takes $50 off the price?

    --
    Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........