Dell does U-turn on XP availability

'New' XP systems arrive after customer complaints

Written by Tom Sanders in California

vnunet.com, 20 Apr 2007

Dell has reintroduced Microsoft's Windows XP to its line of consumer PCs.

The computer maker replaced the software with Windows Vista for all its PCs and laptops earlier this year.

But citing customer requests, the company unveiled two new XP desktops and four XP notebook computers on 19 April.

Users had been asking Dell to bring back Windows XP computers because several older applications will not run on Windows Vista, or because they were not comfortable switching to the new operating system just yet.

Responding to similar requests from small and medium businesses, Dell promised earlier this month to continue offering XP computers for the business segment until later this summer.

The company will not be able to keep selling XP systems indefinitely, however. Microsoft will stop supplying computer makers with the software early next year, forcing all new Windows systems to run Vista.