Is there a way to replace Vista with XP?

Question

I am thinking about buying a Dell laptop, however they only give the option of vista, i would like XP because i am not sure if my old programs on XP is compatible with vista, plus i heard there are lots of bugs with vista yet. I have the disc for XP, so once i get the laptop can i reformat it to XP? thanks so much for all yall help

Answer 1

Off course you can reformat, or even create dual boot (to choose on startup which OS to boot)

Answer 2

If you had the XP installed on another computer, you won't be able to install it on the new one.

Your programs should be compatible with Vista because new programs are usually downward mobile.

Here's why you won't be able to install XP on your new computer:

Microsoft clarifies Vista licensing; users still irked
IDG News Service 10/27/06

Elizabeth Montalbano, IDG News Service, New York Bureau
Microsoft Corp. on Thursday finally attempted to clear up confusion over licensing of Windows Vista for power users who rebuild their PCs on a regular basis. But the answer from the software vendor did little to placate some users, who are still upset about Microsoft's one-machine transfer policy for Vista.
According to Microsoft spokesman Mike Burk, Microsoft users who frequently change the hardware configuration of the system running Vista may fail Vista's new Software Protection Platform software-validation feature more than once. If they did, they would be required to purchase an additional license or use Microsoft's support services to activate Vista on a newly configured machine.
As he explained it in an e-mail to the IDG News Service, Microsoft's product-activation process for Vista compares information from the initial validation -- which includes the hardware configuration of the device -- against the new configuration to transfer the license to a new piece of hardware.
This process, an extension of Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) program designed to fight software piracy, uses an algorithm to help assess whether the software is installed on the same device, and validation of the software will fail if it detects a "substantially different hardware configuration," he said.
Much more info – too much to copy here.

Answer 3

Yes, you can instruct XP on a install to take over the whole drive.
You would be much better off just transforming your current XP to function like Vista.
The actual Vista is nothing but trouble.
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/pcs/the-poor-mans-windows-vista-no-upgrading-necessary-182597.php

You should read this short article from Forbes Magazine about Vista and why no one with any technical knowledge or understanding of the operating system will upgrade to it.
http://www.forbes.com/security/2007/02/10/microsoft-vista-drm-tech-security-cz_bs_0212vista.html
That should answer most your questions about Vista.

Answer 4

Thanks for asking! I'm about to buy a PC and all thats out there is Vista which has my son bummed out because he says he can't run his -Sony Acid Music Studio5 with vista!

Answer 5

no way but if you want format win vista and setup win xp

Answer 6

you could,

BUT WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT
VISTA IS FASTER, SAFER AND MORE ECONOMICAL,

on programs, you can run them in a xp runtime, this makes every program work