Dell's Latest Trick :<

[Caged Anger]

Not happy about this one at all

Seems Dell is no longer keeping their newer model's driver pages up to date with XP compatible drivers. Alright, i can see the reasoning behind discontinuing driver support for older OS's...LIKE WINDOWS 98!!!!

wtf

[FUS1ON]

Man that IS jacked up. Where did you read that at?

BTW The red X box in your signature is too big :P (Just messing with you, the image isn't loading atm)

[BobtheCkroach]

Dude, you can only get Windows XP on a few Dell models now...most only come w/ Vista. Why would they spend time creating Drivers for a system when that system isn't officially supported in XP by them anyways?

[Die Hard]

Caged, do you live in a cave?

[EXEcution]

I fail to see how this is a trick on Dell's part. And I'm sure that you are more than able to find any driver you desire through a simple Google search.

[Caged Anger]

This was an Inspiron 1721 (beautiful machine)

Client was fed up with Vista, so i did the downgrade option. Yes, most of the drivers were able to be found (and even some marked for Vista were also XP compatable)

However, the video adapter which was an ati...X1250? something like that. One of those awesome integrated chipsets that require u to get the drivers via the distributor (as the manufacturor drivers...ATI....won't recognize the hardware) I got around it by using drivers for a different model of Inspiron. The SM Bus driver was also difficult to acquire.

(and yes, might as well be in a cave between classes, IT work, and RA duties at night)

Term, link?

[Die Hard]

OK a point well made. My apologies :)

[BobtheCkroach]

Woah, now you've peaked my curiousity. When you say "downgrade option", what do you mean?

Just simply wiping and installing XP, or does Dell actually provide a way to downgrade Vista to XP?

We have numerous clients that want XP, but want models that don't allow for it. If there's a way to downgrade w/o having to own a seperate copy of XP, that would be nice.

[Caged Anger]

sorry bob, the downgrade option is me pulling their HDD (if Vista is inoperable....) hooking it up via USB adapter, backing up their files, then doing a fresh install with the $6 copies of XP Pro our school offers :)

[BobtheCkroach]

sorry bob, the downgrade option is me pulling their HDD (if Vista is inoperable....) hooking it up via USB adapter, backing up their files, then doing a fresh install with the $6 copies of XP Pro our school offers :)

I figured, but it was worth asking.

[ME BIGGD01]

Don't be just mad at Dell because this is being done with all OEM's. I got rid of a laptop that had Vista on it because it did not have the option to downgrade to XP. This is a major problem because much of the software I use will just not work on Vista.

The only option is to install drivers from another source which can take some time looking for. Google is a great source for this as long as you know the exact part you need a driver for. This trully hurts the industry as I said almosta year ago that Vista will be forced on people regardless of how much it sucks. People that say it's ok for them do not have to rely on specific software so they most likely wont understand. MS needs to get it's head out of it's ass along with all the Oems. You must order a system with XP on it or spend a lot of time and head ache trying to get XP to work. To me time is worth much more and would rather just order a system to what I need.

Did I mention how much Vista sucks?

[Caged Anger]

I have been very successful...at least for the time being, with XP downgrades. All i have done I have noticed a 10 fold increase in speed and performance. ALso, not one client has come back to complain about the downgrade (and i gave them all my contact info and the assurance i would personally reinstall it if they were unhappy)

ergo...i can only assume people are happier with XP

[ME BIGGD01]

Caged, I have made a thread or 2 regarding Vista that agrees with your assumption. I try never to talk out of my arse and will be first to tell you that I do much testing on all platforms. Vista sucks and can not compete with XP Pro on any level. I believe people need to just not buy any system that forces Vista upon you. This way all these major OEMS can take their systems and shove them up their asses.

[Caged Anger]

Did you see they already got the next one in the works?

probably gonna be the same crap with a different name

[ME BIGGD01]

Yeah windows 7 is due out in a few years. The problem with Microsoft is they are not innovative. They know people are F'd with out them. This will be the case until there is real competition. Apple will never be considered a threat either. No matter what any mac user says, it will never be able to do everything a person can do with a pc. Sure you can use it for a desktop and check mail and what ever but gaming is not really there yet and for anything else the amount one of these units costs does not make it worth it unless you are strictly using it for editing. To me they (Mac) are just prettier looking boxes designed with innovation in mind. I will not lie and say I do not respect their look but overall I am a pc user that will never see myself buying an over priced computer that I have no control of the software OS installation. If Mac would releas ethe OS for all x86 machines then I may giove it a try. They won't and neither will I.

Linux--Ubunto and others are decent. The problem is they are not user friendly. Thos OS just does not allow anything to be installed unless you know a bit of coding. To me the time consumption is not worth it. Linux should be considered nothing more but an appliance os. Like that asus laptop for 299, it serves a simple purpose which is fine but I can not see it ever being mainstream. People are too lazy to learn something new and quite honestly why would they bother when the alternative is better regardless of price.

What mainly pisses me off about MS is that Vista should have been a better OS. It actually can be great but with all of the DRM infestion and sloppy ass coding, it will be forever known as another MS piece of crap. MS would have been better adding those features in XP which can be done and just releasing a xp plus OS. No matter what the time they took for it was really not for a better OS but for more control of their OS. This is why I hate MS because they are allowed to get away with anything they want. Who knows, this OS could have been done by the Gov so they can really watch what we are doing. In a better country, people would be able to sue these companies for their products that make them rich yet do not deliver what they are suppose to. You have to love each mac commercial that calls MS out on all of this. I chuckle with the all the time. MS should not be allowed to get away with what they get away with. This is the failure of our Gov't and the reason this country runs like crap. For all they make on liscenses they should be able to afford real coders and innovation. I think people should not buy any computer from any OEM with Vista on it. As I said before they need to know the OS should not be forced on us. I would not even suggest people buying a new copy of XP either and use their old keys. MS does not need to be rewarded for garbage. I would rather beat them before they beat me.

Now a good OS MS has put together with good purpose is Home Server. It's priced well and actually serves the very purpose it was intended for.