Something that won't concern you corporate guys so much, however I guess
there must be some of the smaller retailers and installers in here - When
supplying a new computer, just as an idea what would you consider a
reasonable surcharge over the normal sale/installation price if you the
customer wants you to remove Vista and replace it with XP? (Which most in
fact do!)

I've heard of one outfit which charges nearly half the price of the
computer, for example 300UKP ($600) extra on a upmarket laptop. This seems a
bit OTT.

I tend to charge a couple of hours bench time plus the licence, at which
rate I'm probably selling myself short - finding all the necessary drivers,
etc. on the Internet usually takes a good deal more than this.

Opinions welcome.

Well since the retail price for WinXp Pro is in the region of 225UKP then
300 is not such a big deal

"Ian" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:642E49A9-CC32-47D0-B266-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Something that won't concern you corporate guys so much, however I guess
> there must be some of the smaller retailers and installers in here - When
> supplying a new computer, just as an idea what would you consider a
> reasonable surcharge over the normal sale/installation price if you the
> customer wants you to remove Vista and replace it with XP? (Which most in
> fact do!)
>
> I've heard of one outfit which charges nearly half the price of the
> computer, for example 300UKP ($600) extra on a upmarket laptop. This seems
> a
> bit OTT.
>
> I tend to charge a couple of hours bench time plus the licence, at which
> rate I'm probably selling myself short - finding all the necessary
> drivers,
> etc. on the Internet usually takes a good deal more than this.
>
> Opinions welcome.
>
>

DL schrieb:
> Well since the retail price for WinXp Pro is in the region of 225UKP then
> 300 is not such a big deal

But for what? Vista is slower, heavier, needs more recent hardware,
wastes memory and resources...

Who needs an OS that needs more than half of your complete RAM for its
own? Just for a little funkier start menu and these poor new so called
glass effects? Vista is a programmers accident, nothing more.

You may want to go to youtube and search for "compiz-fusion" example
videos. THAT's real funky effects and at a WAY LOWER cost of resources.

I do the same, couple hours labor and the XP license.

--

----
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_________________________________________________________________________________


"Ian" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:642E49A9-CC32-47D0-B266-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Something that won't concern you corporate guys so much, however I guess
> there must be some of the smaller retailers and installers in here - When
> supplying a new computer, just as an idea what would you consider a
> reasonable surcharge over the normal sale/installation price if you the
> customer wants you to remove Vista and replace it with XP? (Which most in
> fact do!)
>
> I've heard of one outfit which charges nearly half the price of the
> computer, for example 300UKP ($600) extra on a upmarket laptop. This seems
> a
> bit OTT.
>
> I tend to charge a couple of hours bench time plus the licence, at which
> rate I'm probably selling myself short - finding all the necessary
> drivers,
> etc. on the Internet usually takes a good deal more than this.
>
> Opinions welcome.
>
>

I made no comment on the choice of o/s

"Mario Schmidt" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:f8khsl$ls4$(E-Mail Removed)...
> DL schrieb:
>> Well since the retail price for WinXp Pro is in the region of 225UKP then
>> 300 is not such a big deal
>
> But for what? Vista is slower, heavier, needs more recent hardware, wastes
> memory and resources...
>
> Who needs an OS that needs more than half of your complete RAM for its
> own? Just for a little funkier start menu and these poor new so called
> glass effects? Vista is a programmers accident, nothing more.
>
> You may want to go to youtube and search for "compiz-fusion" example
> videos. THAT's real funky effects and at a WAY LOWER cost of resources.

DL schrieb:
> I made no comment on the choice of o/s
>
> "Mario Schmidt" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:f8khsl$ls4$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> DL schrieb:
>>> Well since the retail price for WinXp Pro is in the region of 225UKP then
>>> 300 is not such a big deal

Sure you did, you propose to spend the 300 which is for Vista I assume.

Ian wrote:
> Something that won't concern you corporate guys so much, however I
> guess there must be some of the smaller retailers and installers in
> here - When supplying a new computer, just as an idea what would
> you consider a reasonable surcharge over the normal
> sale/installation price if you the customer wants you to remove
> Vista and replace it with XP? (Which most in fact do!)
>
> I've heard of one outfit which charges nearly half the price of the
> computer, for example 300UKP ($600) extra on a upmarket laptop.
> This seems a bit OTT.
>
> I tend to charge a couple of hours bench time plus the licence, at
> which rate I'm probably selling myself short - finding all the
> necessary drivers, etc. on the Internet usually takes a good deal
> more than this.

DL wrote:
> Well since the retail price for WinXp Pro is in the region of
> 225UKP then 300 is not such a big deal

Mario Schmidt wrote:
> But for what? Vista is slower, heavier, needs more recent hardware,
> wastes memory and resources...
>
> Who needs an OS that needs more than half of your complete RAM for
> its own? Just for a little funkier start menu and these poor new so
> called glass effects? Vista is a programmers accident, nothing more.
>
> You may want to go to youtube and search for "compiz-fusion" example
> videos. THAT's real funky effects and at a WAY LOWER cost of
> resources.

DL wrote:
> I made no comment on the choice of o/s

Mario Schmidt wrote:
> Sure you did, you propose to spend the 300 which is for Vista I
> assume.

Following the conversation above - I believe you have misread something,
Mario...


Original Post: How much do I charge to get rid of Vista and put XP on a new
system?

First response: Seems like Windows XP will cost XXX, so XXX +
your_service_charge = Amount you should charge - reasonably.

Next Response: Comments on how Vista is resource hungry.

Next response: What? Where'd that come from?

Next response: Mention of incorrect assumption - as the words "WinXP Pro"
were used to designate what the money was for in the first response.

In short - it was pointed out to the OP that the retail price of Windows XP
+ a little for the effort needed to get drivers/etc for the system would be
a reasonable price to charge someone for the service. I am unsure why there
would be a need to argue of the resource needs of an OS that this whole
thread is about getting rid of. ;-)

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

No; the origonal op stated that 300ukp was being charged to install winxp
pro on a sys that had been supplied with vista
I merely stated that since the retail price of winxp was some 225ukp then
the total, to include labor of 300ukp, (and tax) was not a big deal

But then perhaps it was a translation issue

"Mario Schmidt" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:f8lb9l$vke$(E-Mail Removed)...
> DL schrieb:
>> I made no comment on the choice of o/s
>>
>> "Mario Schmidt" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:f8khsl$ls4$(E-Mail Removed)...
>>> DL schrieb:
>>>> Well since the retail price for WinXp Pro is in the region of 225UKP
>>>> then 300 is not such a big deal
>
> Sure you did, you propose to spend the 300 which is for Vista I assume.

Shenan Stanley schrieb:
> In short - it was pointed out to the OP that the retail price of Windows XP
> + a little for the effort needed to get drivers/etc for the system would be
> a reasonable price to charge someone for the service. I am unsure why there
> would be a need to argue of the resource needs of an OS that this whole
> thread is about getting rid of. ;-)

Thanks for helping me out