Dell resurrects XP

Dell has decided to resurrect Windows XP following a campaign on its IdeaStorm website.

The site lets PC users vote on new Dell policies or products suggested by users, and a thread entitled ‘Dont [sic] eliminate XP just yet‘ gained more than 10,000 approvals. As a result Dell has begun offering selected Inspiron and Dimension models with the Microsoft operating system that was superseded by Windows Vista released late last year.

‘We heard you loud and clear on bringing the Windows XP option back to our Dell consumer PC offerings,’ the company said in response. Both XP Pro and Home editions are now available with the Inspiron 1405, 1705, 1505 and 1501 and the Dimension E520 and E521.

Contributors to the IdeaStorm thread cited Vista’s PC hardware requirements, DRM technologies, software incompatibility and the lack of drivers for peripherals as reasons for preferring to stick with XP.

Microsoft said that the resurrection of XP was a response to the specific requirements of a small minority.

‘The vast majority of consumers want the latest and greatest technology, and that includes Windows Vista,’ Michael Burk, a product manager for Microsoft’s Windows Client group, said in a statement.

The decision comes less than a month after a similar IdeaStorm campaign resulted in the company agreeing to ship both laptops and desktops with Linux pre-installed. It has not yet said which models will be available with the open source OS, nor which distro it will be installing.