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One Third of New PCs Downgraded To XP?

CWmike writes "More than one in every three new PCs is downgraded from Windows Vista to Windows XP, either at the factory or by the buyer, said performance and metrics researcher Devil Mountain Software, which operates a community-based testing network. 'The 35% is only an estimate, but it shows a trend within our own user base,' Craig Barth, the company's CTO, said. 'People are taking advantage of Vista's downgrade rights.' Last year, Devil Mountain benchmarked Vista and XP performance using other performance-testing tools and concluded that XP was much faster. Barth said things haven't changed since then. 'Everything I've seen clearly shows me that Vista is an OS that should never have left the barn.'"

14 of 617 comments (clear)

  1. s/Downgraded/Upgraded/g by corsec67 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Subject says it all.

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    If I have nothing to hide, don't search me
  2. how about the new version of Windows? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    How come no one is talking about the new version of Windows called Mojave? It looks great, and has little utilities called gadgets ... I love Windows Mojave. I give it a "10"!

    ... er, what's that you say?

    1. Re:how about the new version of Windows? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Turns out OS is actually just Ubuntu Linux with a few custom themes.

  3. What if we just told them it was XP? by DeLukas · · Score: 2, Funny

    But! But! Microsoft did that thing, and people said Vista is great if we don't tell them it's Vista. Clearly the solution is to rebrand Vista as XP and in two months, like a magician, whip the cloth off and go "Aha! You've been using Vista all along!" There is no way a plan like that could fail!

  4. Re:Not exactly surprised... by fiannaFailMan · · Score: 4, Funny

    Not even a first. Anybody remember Windows ME? Redmond is forgetting their history apparently....

    Nonsense. Redmond was always at war with East Asia.

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    Drill baby drill - on Mars
  5. Re:Not exactly surprised... by morgan_greywolf · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's a canard to say that the problem with Vista is that "the hardware is not ready for it"

    Isn't that kind of a lot for a duck to say?

  6. Re:Non-Compatible Laptops by Ash-Fox · · Score: 3, Funny

    I was shocked, on the other hand, to find that there were no Windows XP drivers and that inserting the Windows XP CD and booting from it caused a BSOD before the installing starts. I have an HP Pavilion DV5-1002NR.

    Do not purchase this laptop if you want to use Windows XP on it.

    On the upside, Kubuntu runs perfectly out of the box on a HP Pavilion DV5-1002NR.

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    Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
  7. Re:Not exactly surprised... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Marketing is changing nothing. Now I hear this new Windows Mojave rocks! I can't wait till it gets released!!!

  8. Re:Move over Moore. Gates' Law ... Updated. by smittyoneeach · · Score: 4, Funny

    Now if we slap a UI on it and make it asynchronous, we reach the nirvana of GUITAR.
    String handling like you've never felt it before!

    --
    Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
  9. Re:Not exactly surprised... by Kyril · · Score: 2, Funny

    Microsoft fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is never get involved in a LAN war in Asia, but only slightly less well-known is this: never mention Hitler when flames are on the line! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha...

    [Vizzini stops suddenly, and falls dead to the right]

  10. Re:Not exactly surprised... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Defrag? I'm sorry, are you from the past?

  11. Re:Not exactly surprised... by colmore · · Score: 4, Funny

    What do you mean? We have always been at war with Eurasia.

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    In Capitalist America, bank robs you!
  12. Re:Move over Moore. Gates' Law ... Updated. by commodoresloat · · Score: 2, Funny

    And if we slice it up on a sandwich with yogurt and garlic, we've got GUITAR GYRO!!! Yum!!

    (ducks out the back exit)

  13. Re:Not exactly surprised... by Allador · · Score: 3, Funny

    Thanks for adding such an informed, educated, and insightful post to the discussion.

    How about instead of making random uninformed comments, go read up on wikipedia and see what's actually been done.

    That doesnt mean you have to like Vista or Microsoft, but at least be informed as to the fact that Vista is a completely different beast from XP. There are many, many, many under the hood changes in Vista that we (ISVs and IT support businesses) have been asking for, for the better part of a decade.

    Yes, MS did a shitty job with the marketing, distribution, and packaging of Vista. But dont ignore the very real (and so long overdue) improvements they did make to the core of Windows.