Microsoft To offer Windows 7 To XP Downgrade Option:

My apologies if this has already been posted/discussed. I did a quick search and found no comparable link.

I found this today at BetaNews.

http://www.betanews.com/article/Confirmed-Windows-7-users-will-have-XP-downgrade-option/1239056928

 

I may not be reading this correctly, but if this truly means that Windows 7, no matter what it's installed on, has the option to be downgraded to XP, it is a HUGE mistake imho. They did this with Vista, which was fine at first because when Vista first emerged, it had problems and no one liked it. Those issued got straightened out, but let's be honest, Vista is not a great big success.

Now Windows 7 comes into the picture, so far no glaring problems and people generally like it...so why on earth would Microsoft benefit from allowing them to downgrade yet again? Are they TRYING to be financially "up a creek without a paddle"? Yes, I'm an XP user, yes, I enjoy it. BUT, for the sake of business and profit Microsoft, stick to your phasing out plans like you have for years, and MAKE people move on.

Will doing that drive some people over to Linux? Yes. Will the amount of people that move to Linux hurt you in reality? Not even close. Kill off XP and be done with it, not even you can afford two operating systems being a bust.

 

it does seem like a very stupid option IMO.
since windows 7 is ment to be compatible with all the applications that vista is why the hell would you want to downgrade to vista when vista is slower?

pretty much all applications that work on vista do work on 7. ive tryed it with the applications i use.

XP should definatly be phased out. If they continue to support and sell xp people wont bother to use anything newer.
vista is more rebust and windows 7 is a lighter version of vista that is faster than xp. its a win win situation with 7.

 

Perhaps this was to pacify hardware manufacturers, particularly the Dells, HPs, Toshibas, etc.

Perhaps they asked Microsoft to employ this "safety Valve" so that prospective computer buyers wouldn't be fearful of buying a system that could be buggy for at least a year.

Given the Vista experience, people want an out should the new OS isn't to their liking, and this applies even more so with business clients.

I believe this is a move to better assure that the introduction of W7 will be accompanied by a boost in laptop and PC sales.

 

then again windows 7 is a minor upgrade to vista. vista was a huge upgrade from XP (tons of under the hood improvements) (not many people relise that)
I had tons of problems with vista before SP1. once I got SP1 everything worked fine.
windows 7 beta works great.

 

hmm i wonder why this time the downgrade rights are all over the news?

 

Probably because of the original backlash against Vista that was much publicized and the following "defeat" of MS when they caved and offered the downgrade to XP. The media sees it again and someone, somewhere, will turn it into another MS "defeat". The only problem is, this time it doesn't make a lick of sense to offer the downgrade. I've not seen hardly any negative comments about 7 like there was with Vista.

 

If they do allow a downgrade from 7 to XP, it might be to help passify business users. There are tons of corporate users running XP, and many corporate applications may not do well in a newer environment. Hard to say, but I suspect this may be more for the benefit of business. Companies often take a long time to move on to newer things.

 

You make a great point, businesses aren't well known to use updated apps, let alone new operating systems.

 

The company I work for has:

DOS
Windows 95
Windows 98
Windows XP

Just like you said,they wont be using new operating systems anytime soon.