I agree with you about Alienware. I bought one about five years ago for home. It was horrible. After eight months, I convinced them to refund 80% of my money and let me return the system.
The one I bought is an XPS. It came with Vista Ultimate, which, if it has downgrade rights (I'll call MS to confirm) I'll probably use after I check with Dell to be sure I can run all of its hardware on XP. Thanks, Evan From: Jim Majorowicz [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2008 12:39 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: Going back to XP? You didn't say what version of Vista the system came with. If it came with Ultimate, you can downgrade to XPPro as long as you supply your own media. If you are unable to activate XP over the internet, when you call just explain you're exercising your Vista Ultimate downgrade rights. NOTE: All of the Dell Business class systems have XP downgrade options. You didn't say if you purchased an XPS or Alienware. I'm assuming an XPS. If the system didn't have an option for XP downgrade when you configured it, you may not have XP drivers available for your hardware. I don't know about the Alienware. I've hated them for 3 years now. Won't touch them. From: Evan Brastow [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2008 7:40 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: Going back to XP? Thanks very much to everyone for all of the answers. It feels like I should be able to call Microsoft and downgrade as long as a I have XP media and as long as I check with Dell and be sure all of the hardware on the system has XP drivers available. Thanks again to all J Stephan, as for going back to XP, I think the issues with Vista have been long and well documented in the press and on this list for quite a while. For me personally, I run Vista Ultimate on my laptop at home and cannot stand it. I felt the same - hey, why not try something new and spiffy? But it's eye candy that is unstable and incompatible with certain "old" programs I use for work. IE7 crashes constantly on my laptop and never on my XP workstation at work. But more so than that, it's the fact that I am not your typical "corporate user" that runs a few apps like MS Office and nothing else. I run everything from PowerBuilder to CorelDRAW to Adobe Illustrator to Remote Admin to Crystal Reports to FolderSizes to the Websense management console to iTunes to TrueCrypt to Peachtree. How can I be sure all of those things will run on Vista reliably? Heck, even some games I run on weekends here may not run (now THAT would be a tragedy!) My point is that there is no *benefit* to me having Vista when XP works perfectly for me, and there are many drawbacks, both in the unknowns and the knowns. Evan From: Stefan Jafs [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2008 9:09 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: Going back to XP? Out of curiosity why would you "obviously" want to go back to XP? ___________________________________ Stefan Jafs From: Sean Rector [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2008 8:58 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: Going back to XP? I've been buying my systems this year like this - you have to specify Vista Business with the XP Downgrade option. If you don't, you can't downgrade. Sean Rector, MCSE From: Phil Thompson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2008 8:51 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: Going back to XP? Was this purchased through a business? Dell is still selling XP as a downgrade if you ask for it. I believe you have to have Vista Business or higher to downgrade and it has to be valid XP software, meaning it can't be one you got with another computer. Phil From: Evan Brastow [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2008 8:47 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: Going back to XP? Because I don't feel anyone on this list has anything better to do than to answer my silly questions... J Just took delivery of my first Dell in years (I've been using HP Workstations for about 6 years but wanted to give Dell a try again.) It's one of their gaming systems, actually, but it will do well for my graphics work. 3GHz Core2 Extreme processor overclocked to 3.67GHz, 4GB of RAM, dual 750GB hard drives, dual 1024MB ATI Radeon graphics cards, etc... etc... Sounds nice, right? Also comes with Windows Vista (there was, of course, no other option when ordering.) Great, so I feel like I bought a new Cadillac and the nav system is a Lite-Brite with dysfunctional pegs. So, what I'd like to do, obviously, is go back to XP. But I'm wondering if there is any legal way to do so? I know I can't transfer an XP license from my old system that had XP on it, and I don't think I can buy XP at stores anymore. Does Microsoft still allow you to "downgrade" (as if going from a Lite Brite with dysfunctional pegs to a working Etch-A-Sketch is a downgrade) from Vista to XP if you call them? Thanks, Evan Information Technology Manager Virginia Opera Association E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Phone: (757) 213-4548 (direct line) {*} This email and any attached files are confidential and intended solely for the intended recipient(s). If you are not the named recipient you should not read, distribute, copy or alter this email. Any views or opinions expressed in this email are those of the author and do not represent those of the Amico Corporation. 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