Ask The Geek

CPU caters to users who aren't
looking for new VISTAS

By Kevin McDonald

Windows Vista hit the shelves on Jan. 30, 2007. Almost a year and a half later, on June 30, Microsoft ordered a hit on Vista's older (and arguably wiser) brother, Windows XP, announcing that Microsoft would no longer provide XP to retailers and original equipment manufacturers, called OEMs, for use on standard PCs and laptops. XP will continue to thrive on Ultra Mobile PCs (UMPC). This final ax fell a mere three days after Bill Gates stepped down from his role as chairman at Microsoft.

Photo by Kevin McDonald XPERT: Brandon Denney of CPU says the majority of his customers want to stick with Windows XP instead of using the newer Vista.

Unfortunately for Microsoft, not many consumers eagerly embraced Vista while most retailers have been happy to toe the line.

Last Thanksgiving, an associate at Best Buy guaranteed XP was no longer available and that the only choice for his new laptop was Vista. That wasn't true then and still isn't today.

Here's the truth: XP is alive and kicking. Retailers who respect their clients are fighting to keep XP a viable option for consumers, even on new systems, well into the foreseeable future.

For area residents, Computer Parts USA, or CPU, a 10-year-old business, is one of those retailers. Brandon Denney, general manager at CPU, said the response to Vista in the Amarillo area is lackluster and CPU plans to continue providing Windows XP.

Of the systems CPU has sold since Vista launched, Denney said "maybe 2 percent" delivered with Windows Vista.

"When Vista first came out, we saw an initial surge where the early adopters came in and bought it — and I'm not even saying ‘en masse,'" he said. "That was our biggest surge of Vista sales. They weren't lined up outside."

Sentiment here hasn't improved.

"(CPU's clients) want XP. We try to cater to that opinion as far as carrying laptops that still have XP and loading XP on our prebuilt systems. We offer Vista solutions, but for the most part, it's all XP," he said.

But some customers simply think that newer is better. For them, CPU personnel try to make sure Vista is exactly what they want before they are saddled with the system and its problems.

Why aren't people adopting Vista?

"The complaints are mainly how it tries to protect you from yourself," Denney said, adding some of its functions take three steps; XP takes one.

Vista also blindsides the pocketbook before you walk out the door with a new PC, Denney said. Vista requires more power so customers must buy a more expensive machine for it to run like an XP machine.

That's not all. Any memory beyond about three gigabytes is more than the standard 32-bit versions of either XP or Vista can use.

If the computer's processor supports the 64-bit versions of either XP or Vista, it can utilize more memory. Often, however, the trade-off has been losing certain software packages that are not made to run on these 64-bit versions — for example, like Palm synchronization software and iTunes.

Is there ever a time when Vista outperforms XP?

"It depends on what you're doing," Denney said, adding that the trade-off is that Vista may offer some improvements when multitasking several applications, but it hogs operating systems resources.

Vista uses massive amounts of memory just to load and start its basic services. That doesn't leave as much room for applications, like Word, for example, and it's difficult to multitask between applications if the system lacks enough memory to run them in the first place.

Even though the larger retailers have dropped XP, area residents continue to demand it. At CPU, Denney has noticed that people go to big box stores to buy a new laptop and then bring it to CPU to have XP installed.

How is this possible? If Microsoft doomed XP last month, consumers no longer have a choice, do they? It turns out there is no mandate to prohibit a retailer from selling Windows XP, as long as it has officially licensed copies in stock.

"Microsoft stopped producing CDs and giving them to distributors," Denney said. "Distributors and stores like us saw this coming, so we stocked up."

Denney predicts CPU will have plenty of genuine Windows XP CDs through late summer.

Then what? The answer lies in the license agreement for Vista itself.

The purchasers of Vista Business — the Vista counterpart to XP Professional — are allowed to "downgrade" and install XP Professional instead without ever having to install Vista.

"What you can do is buy a Vista Business key, and then load XP. When you get up to the registration point, you have to call Microsoft and tell them, ‘This is what I'm doing, I've got a Vista key, I'm installing XP, I need a key.' Over the phone they'll give you a key to install XP."

The trick is to have a copy of the OEM-version of the XP Professional installation CD. If you've ever purchased a PC with XP preloaded from a retailer, you probably have one. This snag is due to the way Microsoft generates license keys for XP. Long story short: License keys from the retail "boxed" versions of XP don't work with the OEM installer CD, and vice versa. When you call Microsoft for your "downgrade" XP key, it issues a key that works with the OEM installer CD. If you're using a "retail CD," the key won't work.

Microsoft may not have made the process easy, but CPU will. Once its XP stocks run dry, you'll be able to purchase a PC with a Windows Vista Business license and let CPU pre-install XP Professional for you instead.

"We can do all the calling to Microsoft," Denney said.

You might think you'll have to pay a premium but in reality, today's cost for XP Professional at CPU is $159. A license for Vista Business is $156, currently $3 less than XP Professional alone. If you initiate your "downgrade" rights with Vista Business, you'll have a legal license for Vista Business and XP Professional.

Microsoft benefits from this downgrade option as well.

"They book a sale for Vista," Denney said, "but really people are just installing XP."

By invoking this licensing option, customers spare themselves the pain of using Vista when they don't want to, but Microsoft is still artificially inflating Vista's sales number.

Links:

Computer Parts USA on the Web: http://www.cpu.com

Kevin McDonald: Writer and professional computer/network administrator. He lives in Amarillo with his wife and children, and owns and operates Definition Computers (806-236-9615). E-mail Kevin at askthegeek@definitioncomputers.com with questions you'd like to see answered in this column.

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Posted: July 17, 2008