An article in the Inquirer says that Microsoft may be admitting their latest offering, Windows Vista isn’t the success they had hoped for (the Inquirer are calling Vista Windows ME 2!).  While Microsoft had apparently tried to make it very difficult for consumers to buy Windows XP or machines preloaded with Windows XP after the launch of Vista—Dell have announced that due to the high demand from customers they will again be offering home/consumer PC’s with Windows XP.  This move is a result of Dell’s ‘IdeaStorm’ project that asked customers for product ideas.

There are many opinions on why it seems consumers and businesses are reluctant to move away from XP and upgrade to Vista.  Some blame a lack of marketing saying that they see more ads for Apple’s OS X than for Vista.  Others suggest that people want to stick with XP ‘because it works’; patchy hardware and software support for Vista could be a deciding factor for many.

I wonder what will happen in January when Microsoft has said it will stop selling XP licences to large PC manufacturers and system builders one year later?  Is Windows Vista really doomed to follow in the footsteps of Windows ME which was avoided like the plague by most users in favour of the older Windows 98SE despite all of the claimed advances and benefits?  Maybe consumers are simply being cautious and waiting for the first service pack release before making the move?