I originally made a mistake of not buying a new laptop while they were still commonly available with XP. A little over a year later I desperately needed a new computer for my business and made the horrendous mistake of purchasing a laptop computer with Vista. It lasted one week! A software incompatibility issue caused Vista’s safety features to create a neverending loop that would not let me get back into windows. I tried every version of Safe Boot at least a dozen times before I finally hit a combination that managed to completely kill the whole thing. Fortunately I purchased it at a store with a two-week return policy and returned the laptop to them for a full refund. The clerk said the problem that I had experienced with quite common. I asked, if I was correct in assuming it would void my warranty if I purchased a second laptop and installed XP myself, and was told that yes it would void my warranty, but it wouldn’t help anyway because their computers would not run XP because they were configured for Vista. So I went home, went online and paid $400.00 extra to order a custom built one with more desirable features and XP installed.

Thank you Bill Gates and Microsoft for such a time consuming and disgusting experience. I’m going to buy stock in Mac. With Vista in your corner, I believe it is a given that the price of your competitor’s stock is bound to soar!

Yes, XP should stick around for a long, long time.
I have some legacy apps that run only on Win98, of all things. I only need them once a week for a database that I can’t get ported over to XP, so I use removable hard drives and put the 98 drive in when I need it. I don’t want to run into the same problem if I ever have to go to Vista with the apps that do run on XP.
I’ve already run into problems with people being able to run my puzzles on Vista, unless I shell out $400 for a digital certificate, which I can’t afford.
Yes, I’ve tried a virtual PC, but it has problems, so unless I want to manually transfer 20,000 records over, I’m stuck this way.
Wayne

My thoughts here are that this was the child of the ME OS. It was a nice idea but pushed out way too fast for it’s own good.

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I intend to go out and buy another oem copy of XP pro sometime soon just so I have a copy handy. Vistas inconsistencies, driver issues, and the over all aggravation, that I have watched my friends and colleagues deal with is more than enough education for me.

The other reason why in conjunction with my previous reasons that I won’t willingly move up to vista, is flat out THE COST. $350+ taxes for an oem copy of something that so many people are having so much trouble with. MAKES NO SENSE AT ALL.

My next move will most likely be to a linux distro as a main OS.

Hi Everyone,
Thanks for the great comments. They are appreciated.
Regards, Ron

Yes I think XP should stick around. Either until Vista is dramatically improved or Windows 7 appears on the scene better and can prove it is a replacement for both.
Bill

I agree…MS should make XP available for at least one more year.

Yes, for Heaven’s sake keep XP at least until Windows 7 comes out (but maybe it will be as bad as Vista??).
It is bad enough that I have to have a second hard drive with Win98 on it so I can run some apps that I need (not to mention playing those wonderful vintage games).
I have heard too many horror stories about Vista, and refuse to have to use it. Please, Microsoft, continue to support XP!

I am a software developer and a database programmer. Quite a few of the programs I use on a daily basis don’t run correctly (if at all) on Vista. This includes some of the VPN software (such as Cisco) that I need to use to access clients’ systems. I was SHOCKED and pretty angry when trying to buy a brand-new, high-end Dell laptop, to find out they won’t ship it with anything but Vista. I SO wish that a perfect alternative would show up on tha market tomorrow, just to show Microsoft that they can’t shaft us this way.

Hi Shelley,
Check out Dell’s business systems. They still are being offered with XP.

http://www.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx/desktops?c=us&l=en&s=bsd&cs=04

The OS that should be taken off the market is Vista. The only reason Microsoft wants to pull XP is who in their right mind would willingly choose Vista. Vista is trash pretty trash but trash. Microsoft feels that they can force the public to buy trash that its plain only a few people want.

Hello Daniel,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.