thanks to everone on the risks and benefits of doing an iso of current hdd vs streamlining. I think i'll do both as time is available. Great ideas. thanks!
that's probably because their production is geared to put vista on laptops, so they charge more for xp. or it could cost them more to support xp because their support staff is trained on vista. or maybe their testing was done primarily on vista so they assume support costs would be higher with xp because some undiscovered problems could arise. who knows. actually, the fact they're charging extra suggests to me it's a small number of people who want xp. if most of their customers demanded xp, they'd probably charge the same and make xp standard.
95 to nt was the best ms ever did. 95 was an unstable piece of crap. nt was a true 32-bit core o/s. it's still the foundation for 2000, xp and vista. 95 was fluff. it was a new ui over a crummy core.
Most customers are not knowledgeable enough to know they should want XP. Many sellers don't even offer XP now. If all buyers understood the problems of Vista and how minimal its purported benefits, Vista sales would likely be only a fraction of what they've been. Microsoft deserves a bigger backlash than they've had for bringing Vista to the marketplace before it was ready (still isn't) and trying to cram it down consumers' throats. FWIW... I for one, will NEVER adopt Vista unless there is no other choice.
re charging more for xp then for vista when vista is "standard" on the product they are selling, the first rule of business 101 - How much do you charge for what you are selling? Answer As much as you can get. If they can get $50 out of you, they're going to. If they thought they could get $200 they would charge that.
Ain't that the truth. Was buying a car not long ago, and the dealer didn't have one in my desired color. Had one at another store of theirs in neighbor state. Said it would be $600 for shipping charge to get my color. I said, "I'll just buy from another dealer". Funny, the $600 charge vanished. (I bought from the other dealer anyway... told the first one I didn't like their attempt to "chump" me... they took offense. Awwww..)
Always always always in any transaction where you are the buyer, remember the money is in your pocket (or account or custody of some sort) and you are in complete control. Do not hesitate to say repeatedly "well that would be a deal breaker. I can't have that." and see how fast they change their tactics. With Dell for example, I'm sure that deal is water under the bridge and I'm not trying to critique anyone, but if you do a deal with them again and they're on the phone with you, don't hesitate to say not only does the $50 charge not work but you should get a $150 credit or no deal, and see where/ if they meet you in the middle somewhere. There is tremendous margin in those systems. I paid $1200 for a QX6850 that I would guess michael dell gets for around $250 or so because he buys them by the trainload and does his own warranty. He may even pay less. Plus with the add-ons they mark them up 500% or more and don't credit for the base parts you're not getting. If you know the seller's margins, strengths/ weaknesses, etc. you have leverage. Don't hesitate to walk from a deal. There's always someone willing to take your money; that will never change.
i've used vista for several months, and xp for a few years. my suggestion is: if you already have xp, there's no need to upgrade to vista. if you're building a new comp, get vista. any popular product will have websites where customers bash it. the ipod has its share; does that mean you'd never get an ipod? xp used to have quite a few too. there was a day people said the same about xp (that it sucked, it's a waste of money, everyone should stay with 2000, etc). it's a natural part of the product cycle.
I asked a few weeks ago a large company with 120K desktops how many had vista, They said 50 desktops. Windows 7 around the corner I doubt Vista is going to provide Microsoft lots of sales to the Business market.