Devoted to hardware, software, IT issues, and information technology management

pre-loaded, you may be eligible to downgrade to Windows XP.  Ina Fried reported this in her article "The XP alternative for Vista PCs" on CNET, but before you get too excited, there are some caveats:

 

Under Microsoft's licensing terms for Vista, buyers of Vista Business and Vista Ultimate Edition have always had the right to downgrade to XP, but in practice this could be challenging. In June, Microsoft changed its practices to allow computer makers that sell pre-activated Vista machines to order Windows XP discs that could be included inside the box with PCs, or shipped to customers without requiring additional activation. Microsoft noted in a statement that neither it nor the PC makers are "obligated to supply earlier versions to end users under the end user licensing terms."

Not too surprising, but many businesses, including my own employer, aren't willing to deploy Windows Vista yet and are still demanding Windows XP (SP2) as their "Gold Standard" for business desktops/laptops.  We are running out of time though as Microsoft has published January 31st 2008 as the end date for availability of retail and OEM licenses for XP in their Windows Life-Cycle Policy.

Hopefully businesses have budgeted to accommodate the memory and graphics upgrades that may be required to support Vista on their existing desktops/laptops.  For home users; here's hoping you get that holiday bonus to get the kit that you'll need.