Unsatisfied goes on a venting binge:
He was fed up with [Vista] so he decided to downgrade to XP. I couldn't believe
how hard it would be to do that. I had to call Microsoft for support, waited
40 min on the line and finally the customer service rep told me the version
my friend has was not able to do that using the same liscence key. They
wouldn't explain how to do it. Instead he recommended that I buy a liscence
for Windows XP and try installing it again and if I had trouble, call back
for support.
So you don't know how to downgrade from Vista to XP yet you complain
that it's Microsoft fault that you don't know. YOU chose to be the
admin of your OS installation. If you don't have the qualifications
then bribe or pay someone who is qualified. Do you dismantle your car's
engine without the knowledge to do so. Having the tools doesn't make
you a wizard. Being able to run setup.exe doesn't make you a wizard.
Only certain editions of Vista have downgrade rights to XP. See:
http://download.microsoft.com/downl...cbd-699b0c164182/royaltyoemreferencesheet.pdf
You don't get 2 licenses of Windows, one to use for Vista and another to
use with XP, when downgrading. You still get just 1 license. You use
whatever XP install media you can find (Microsoft doesn't supply it),
complete the install of XP, but to activate it means having to do the
phone-in to tech support to validate the product. It is when you call
in that you announce you are performing an downgrade. You give them
your product key from a qualifying Vista edition and they give you a
product key to complete the validation of the XP install.
They told you that your "friend" doesn't have the necessary edition of
Vista that includes downgrade rights to XP. How did your friend or you
even know Vista had downgrade rights? When you heard about it, you
didn't investigate how to do it and what editions of Vista qualified for
a downgrade? Just the Business and Ultimate editions of Vista will
qualify for downgrades to XP.
The above assumes that you have a retail version of Vista (and XP). If
not, you didn't pay for support from Microsoft. OEM versions don't
include Microsoft support. That's why they are cheaper (and why OEMs
try to sell you service contracts). You'll have to contact the OEM'er
who is supposed to provide their own mechanisms for downgrades from
Vista to XP.
I refuse to upgrade to Vista myself since all I hear is problems from my
friends.
Are these friends also equivalent "wizards" like you? Vista can be very
stable. Depends on the user using it and how they screw it up after
getting it (along with any crapware the OEM'ers put on it). Are these
friends the types that don't bother to research if their existing
applications - and especially the hardware drivers - are compatible with
the next newer version of Windows? Or are they like most users that
just slap on the new OS and hope for the best? You know, the type that
think they can be Windows admins simply because they can start and
possibly complete the install but haven't even bothered to read a
Dummies book about Windows.
But when Microsoft stops making updates for XP and I start getting problems,
I think I will be switching to Mac.
Are there equivalent MAC applications for all your PC applications? Why
consider just Apple's offerings. Since they moved to a Linux-based OS,
why not look at all possible Linux alternatives? You could even use
VirtualPC or VMWare Server to experiment and train on those Linux
alternatives while still using Windows.
Please, the claimed threat of moving away from Windows is so obviously
vacuous that it makes you look foolish. Rare few that have made the
claim actually honor it. As soon as they realize that they have to
learn a wholly different OS, lose any expertise they had before with a
prior OS, and find that they lose apps that they really want to use, so
they don't switch. There is a lot of inertia to overcome for typical
(i.e., non-wizard) users to move to a different OS and then a lot of
resistance encountered after moving to get back to an equivalent
software configuration. Games alone is often a factor that prevents
users from moving away from Windows.
There are more Linux users that also use Windows. They don't drop Linux
to move to Windows. They merely add Windows to their portfolio of
operating systems that accomplish the tasks they need to perform.
So unless Microsoft improves their customer service and OS, I'm sure
more and more users will be switching over.
Well, do you actually pay for support from Microsoft? You don't if you
buy OEM versions. You only get 2 incident reports included in the
purchase of retail versions. Thereafter you pay for more support from
Microsoft. So what has been you actual experience when you PAID for
support from Microsoft?
Many users already use multiple different operating systems. You decide
what tasks you need to perform and then what applications can perform
those tasks and lastly choose the OS that supports those applications.
Picking an OS and then finding out if it supports the apps that can
perform your tasks is ass-backwards logic. You're backing up through
the door to only then discover what you can find after entering.
Instead look forward knowing what you want to do and look at the doors
that offer a means to do what you want.
You're on Windows because YOU chose to be. Based on your post, and
especially from the uneducated vacuous threat, you will CONTINUE using
Windows.
