Replacing Vista with XP

[Freda]

A friend of mine made the mistake of buying a second hand laptop with Vista installed.

As I recall, when Microsoft admitted they'd made a massive mistake with Vista they offered people the option of having XP installed instead.

Does this offer still hold - i.e. do Microsoft still stand by their admission that Vista was a mistake, and honour that by replacing it - or did it only apply to people who bought a new computer at the time?

[cluberti]

Microsoft has never admitted any mistakes with Vista - while the driver model was a huge change with less warning than OEMs would have liked (or in fact sometimes needed), there was nothing specifically wrong with Vista as an OS. However, as with all Microsoft OSes (the professional versions at least - not the home variants), "downgrading" has always been a possibility if the OEM offered it. This would not be Microsoft's doing, however, and is only allowed if the OEM is willing to allow a customer to purchase a machine with a Vista (or Windows 7) license, and provide them also with a Windows XP license (for example).

[Freda]

Thanks. I thought it was surprising Microsoft had admitted an error. That was how it was reported in the press when word got round about Vista and no-one would touch it.

I've never seen Vista before this as no-one I know wanted it. I'll break the news to my friend that she's bought a lemon and will have to buy a copy of XP or pay someone to install it.

[MagicAndre1981]

Vista was never a mistake. It is today the best operating system. In WIndows7 MS removed too much components and features. Especially the Windows Explorer issue (no chance to disable autoarrange and not to remember individual folder window sizes and positions) are terrible.

You should reinstall the Vista with a clean Sp2 DVD and you have a great OS.

[Tripredacus]

You should reinstall the Vista with a clean Sp2 DVD and you have a great OS.

Vista RTM was a shock since most people were buying cheap PCs at that time. Cheap PCs = low end hardware, which didn't mix well with Vista. The Service Packs have helped it out greatly.

[MagicAndre1981]

I didn't had issues with Vista RTM on older Hardware (AMD Athlon XP and AMD Athlon 64 + 1/2GB RAM and IDE HDD. Vista boots in 35-40s and performs fine). The issues were unrealistic expectations, bad nVIDIA drivers and people didn't want to learn new things (like UAC).

For me XP RTM in 2001 was the worst OS I ever used. Buggy and unstable as hell. But most Vista bashers never used XP RTM.

Edited October 12, 2011 by MagicAndre1981

[Freda]

I managed to get Vista to more or less behave on my friend's laptop after a lot of swearing and some total incredulity on my part. It's soon to be replaced with XP, though.

MagicAndre, thanks for the warnings about Windows 7 -

When Vista appeared I bought a second PC I didn't need at the time because the music software I use either wouldn't run properly or wouldn't run at all under Vista (this was being confirmed on all sides by competent and computer-literate musicians). I reckoned a second PC with XP would at least keep me working for a few years. In the meantime I've been backing off from computer-based music software and going for hardware instead. So if Windows 7 turns out to be a step back from Vista, God help us. That backup PC seems even more like a good investment.

Thanks for your input on this. Problem solved - despite a little expense on the part of the laptop owner to get an operating system that will do what she needs it to do. Buggy and imperfect, yes - I'm not making undue claims for XP and I know its lamentable failings all too well - but it'll work after a fashion.

So this topic can be closed. Thanks for your advice.