Idiots at dell, anyway to get XP?

As time goes on, Vista will get better. However IMO I think Xp is a very stable OS. Vista is definitely getting there, and there are alot of Vista users here that are happy with it.

They are working On service packs so well see how they work out

My main problem with Vista isn't the stability,but more the sheer installed size of it,plus the fact it was designed from the ground up as a DRM operating system which MS has cleverly refrained from flexing its muscles with up to the present,at least until a bigger user base is in effect....thats why IMO they are in such a hurry for everybody to adopt it.

To the OP,I don't think you have any option but to buy XP as you ordered the laptop with Vista,and as you are a few months into ownership,returning it is out of the question,I would try asking to talk to the supervisor of the people that you have already talked to and see if you can wrangle something with them as far as exchanging OS disc's.

Other than that,use someone elses OS disc,you shouldn't have a problem with drivers for a few years yet.The way I look at it is,if dell and MS don't want to keep the customer happy by legal means,what choice does the customer have to make themselves happy at least for a few years anyway.

I like vista, but if you want to downgrade temporarily you can

http://forum.ncix.com/forums/index.p...t=24&subpage=1

gerry, no offense, but you might want to take off that tinfoil hat of yours. Everyone keeps talking about VIsta and its "OH NOES TEH DRMZ0RZ STEALING MY MEGAHURTZ!!!!!111oneoneoneone" Vista is a bit more of a pain in the ass to activate and windows validation is integral part of the OS (not a patch like it was in XP). And it does not perform as well as XP. But, Microsoft wants people to adopt Vista for one reason...money. They make money off of every new PC that is sold with Vista preinstalled and they make money off of every retail boxed copy that goes off the shelves. A new OS release is like Christmas for Microsoft because not only do they get the OEM sales, but they get the boxed copy sales which bring them a bit more profit. When was the last time you'd seen people snatching retail boxed copies of Windows XP?

Occam's razor totally applies in this instance: "All things being equal, the simplest solution is usually the correct one."

I for one am really digging vista. It takes a little getting used to but once you get though some of the first time user annoyances like UAC it runs like a dream. Once you use it for a while you won't want to go back to XP. I haven't noticed any performance loss. I lost some points with 3dMark but my games still run fine. I have most of the Microsoft OS, Win 95, Win98, Win2000, Win ME, Win XP Pro, Server 2003 Enterprise, Vista Ultimate. The only Disaster to come out of Microsoft was ME. FGO what problems with Vista are u having?

Yep - if you want XP, just get a dell OEM copy - this will install fine and active fine - Yes I know it's illegal technically as you don't have a licence and I apologise in advance for offending anyone. I also agree that Vista will improve with age - I do have concerns on the DRM front but so far this has not caused me any issues.

Me I have OSX, Vista Ultimate, XP Pro & Media centre, & Ubuntu 7.04 - have yet to actually get OSX working yet but all the others work just fine

On a side note try Ubuntu - I was actually rather surprised, as long as you don't want to play games and use for email, word processing, spreadsheets etc it's not a bad option.

Mr Evil... LOL,ya,me a conspiracy theorist,not really,I just have my own opinion of it and have payed far more attention to the details of this new OS than I have with previous ones,you should too.

In my opinion,Vista is not even an upgrade at the moment,let alone a worthy one,that MAY change,more like hardware will get faster/bigger,and it will be less noticable.

At the end of the day,its bloated,and its slower than the OS it will replace..........thats good enough reason in itself for me not to use it until I have to,or someone points out something other than "it looks really nice" or "it runs really smooth",eventually,like everybody says,you won't have a choice if you want to use a MS OS.

And as far as DRM goes,I guess time will tell,I have read a lot of articles by respected people who have gone into minute detail about the drm in vista....and I don't like what I read.One article here about it that really isn't anti Vista...just pointing some things out.http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut00...ista_cost.html

But at 41,I'm old enough to realise that,whatever I think,its not going to change someone elses mind who does happen to like it,just as,what you say won't change mine...freedom of choice as they say,but when someone posts,that vista sucks,of course I'm going to have a little jab,because I agree......thats human nature.

BTW...microsoft still make money from selling OEM licenses of XP as well as from Vista,don't they?,and from what I've read,non OEM sales of vista are nothing to write home about especially considering in some parts of the world like where I live,microsoft instructed the big retailers to send their unsold copies of XP back to them,the day vista shipments arrived.

I could go on for pages about what I dislike about vista currently,but I won't,because

1.It won't change anything
2.people will use and do what they want
3.I don't have enough tinfoil in the pantry,if's someones watching
4.service pack 1 will probably shrink vista by 75% and make it 10% faster than XP
5.Debates like Vista v XP are boring because everybody knows they are right.

links please. . .

well just get vista, install it as xp like the link I gave you says, then move to vista when you 'deem' it to be service packed, using the same software you bought

honestly, it runs great on my laptop. I dont want to get into a debate about it, I just know that I ran xp for a good while and then vista for 6months on same machine and I would never go back to xp.

hardest thing was finding the info for tweaks, there is an vista forum here which is great. Adding an 2gb sdisk was great. Very fast starts.

I'm always up for trialing software. I ran osx for ages with dodgy graphics. Toyed with buying a mac but actually am really happy with vista. Its cool.

i have a xp media center dell disc, trade ya straight up

Sorry Rube,I was just being facetious.we can live in hope though.

I know all about Vista's content protection, and yes it sucks. But only if you're a consumer whore and buy stuff knowing that it has the RIAA and MPAA's DRM all over it. That article you linked even says that the disabling of functionality will only occur if content flagged as protected is being used in a way the **AA doesn't want you to.

The point I was trying to make though, is Microsoft isn't wanting us to switch to Vista as part of some world domination plot or to make all of us slaves to the **AA. They are pushing Vista because they've spent a fair bit of money developing it, and the shareholders want to see a return on that. It's all about the Benjamins.

Vista is waaaaay better than XP. Way more secure, looks better, increased functionality, I could never go back to XP after using Vista.

Rats. Facetious. Derived from Latin: full of feces!

amen, let the J6p's drink their beer and watch the TEE VEE, and see what they say when the Northamerican Union takes over.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T74VA3xU0EA

mexicans will take all the jobs. 4 sure.
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=14965

There are far more +s with Vista than -s. Its a very long way to cry that Vista is like ME.

All the companies are out to make money, that is their goal or be out of business. If MS wants to lock down their OS via DRM control, I do not care because its the core system, and really MS can do what they want with it, as long as it works I am ok with it. Until my personal info is comprimised of course. Locks are for honest people afterall..

As far as Is it better than XP. I do not know, sometimes its faster, and other times its not, but its more secure, if an app crashes it auto restarts it for me and I like that feature, I have even had the video driver crash and the system did not go down, it just restarted the service automatically and that is a very welcome feature that so far no other OS has done for me yet. So for me I have good feelings with Vista (I bought it retail at a reduced price cause compusa left MA and they liquidated everything =) yeah me!) I hope it gets some much needed performance boosts and fixes with the SPs coming and I am sure like XP when it matures it will be really good.

Indeed.

Sorry man,I don't know what to make of your post....I had to look up what a j6p was [joe 6 pack]

I did watch your links, but I can't really comment because I'm not a US citizen,but I would think your links would be a perfect candidate for the off topic section.