ANTenna Blog -- Hardware & Software

When Vista was released last January, we were told that it was the next great place to be. Eventually, we were told, everyone would be doing Vista. We might as well switch our operating system now or we would be way behind the eight ball.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Apparently, not all small and midsize business people are that easily swayed.

"Microsoft's Windows Vista has yet to win over many businesses nearly a year after it was first made available to enterprises," writes Vnunet.

What's more, writes CNET, "While Microsoft is still pushing Vista hard, the company is quietly allowing PC makers to offer a "downgrade" option to buyers that get machines with the new operating system but want to switch to Windows XP."

In what is clearly a coup for small and midsize businesses, the CNET article continues: "The program applies only to Windows Vista Business and Ultimate versions, and it is up to PC makers to decide how, if at all, they want to make XP available. Fujitsu has been among the most aggressive, starting last month to include an XP disc in the box with its laptops and tablets."

In fact, Fujitsu marketing manager Brandon Farris told CNET, "That's going to help out small- and medium-size businesses."

Many business users of Vista have been turned off by its incompatibility issues including its need for lots of graphics and memory. Despite the fact that Microsoft says it expects to have shipped one billion copies of Windows by the end of 2008, clearly there are many business users who don't want to be part of the revolution.

"Some have derided Windows Vista as being a bloat-fest with a prettier GUI and slower performance than its well-seasoned Windows XP predecessor," writes Daily Tech, but adds that "ironically, both of those "flaws" were leveled against Windows XP in comparison to Windows 2000 after its launch in late 2001."

Still, CNET writes, "While there is always resistance by some to move to a new operating system, there appears to be particularly strong demand, especially from businesses, to stick with XP."

Have you made the switch to Vista? Do you want to go back? You can. Or you can try the installation method of this guy, who found that Vista was not all he thought it would be.