aa said:
Earle, if you read me carefully you will see that I do not complain about
HP.
My complaint is about MS who forced HP to sell computers with VISTA only.
The Dell computer I have been using came with Vista pre-installed but with
XP drivers on the install CD. HP could have done that. It seems that at
least part of your complaint is with HP. Have you even tried to assemble
the necessary driver set to run XP on your computer?
Absurd! MS, as far as I know, does not sell hardware - why do you think I
might consider MS under obligation to provide me with a computer? HP are
happy to supply computers with XP, but MS does not sell them relevant
license.
MS is being difficult perhaps, but they're breaking no law. MS
sells/licenses operating systems to HP, who then assembles and sells the
complete product to you, the customer. MS and HP working together "provide"
the computer/operating system combination. They are under no obligation to
provide you with a new one that runs XP. That's like going to my local
Honda dealer and telling them I want another 1999 Honda Civic HX, just like
the one I am trying to trade in. My choices are to buy one of the new cars
available, or to keep using the old one. It's the same with electronics
like your computer.
Your statement that HP is happy to supply computers with XP would seem to be
false, if it did not provide XP-compatible drivers for your model. Again,
did you take the trouble to find the drivers?
I'll tell you what I did. I brought a Dell Inspiron 1501 in December of
2007, determined that the operating system on it was a piece of crap/did not
meet my requirements, and then purchased a Dell OEM version of XP for $35,
on Amazon Marketplace. You could have done that. Well, you would need an
HP or generic OEM version of XP, of course.
Earle, by your comments lawyer is not your trade or even hobby - you have
difficulties to understand what exactly I am unhappy about.
I am not an idiot to complain about MS changing user interface of their
new
product. I am complaining that MS withheld licences for the previous
versions of OS thus forcing consumers to buy they new OS. And the Web is
full of people unhappy with VISTA and wanting to go back to XP or w2k. Of
my
contacts I know only two, happy with VISTA. Both are young people, both
using computers for entertainment purposes only - music, video, Internet
browsing. For those using computer for business swear when are reminded of
VISTA.
What is your intention in posting to this news group? Are you looking for a
solution to your problem, or do you just want to complain? No one is
forcing anyone to buy a new computer. Those young people must be really
stupid, not knowing how bad Vista is.
You probably are aware that they do not supply system install disks. From
my
experience with XP system recovery partition, recovering OS from that
partition does not necessarily goes nicely. I know several cases when
people
had to format the whole disk and install OS anew, using installation XP
and
even w2k disks from thrown away old computers. This might be illegal but
getting help from MS is hopeless - they always say this is a hardware
fault - if you somehow manage to talk to them which is a challenge per ce.
All of the manufacturers with which I am familiar sell system restore and
driver media customized for each computer model for a nominal fee. You
could buy the set for your computer model, and use it in the event that your
attempt to install XP fails. You could buy a replacement hard drive, which
are real cheap and easy to swap out, and use that for your XP
experimentation. In your place I would have that computer or a comparable
one running XP in about two days.
Earle
