Windows Vista is pretty. Nobody disputes the fact that the Aero interface is pretty, and in some cases even useful. And there are a lot of security measures built into the operating system. But many users have reported software they rely on isn’t compatible with the latest operating system from Microsoft. Power management features often don’t work the way they’re supposed to. And sometimes too much security isn’t a good thing (for example when your computer asks for your permission to perform what seem like the most basic tasks.

It turns out Microsoft has not turned a blind eye to all these complaints. And while most computer makers are offering Vista on their new PCs, Microsoft has made it easy for PC manufacturers to offer a downgrade option to Windows XP.

One of the challenges, for both businesses and consumers are Vista’s hefty graphics and memory needs. Lenovo, for its part, has details for its downgrade program on its IBM ThinkPad Web site. HP, Gateway and others also still sell machines with XP on them, nearly a year after Microsoft first started offering Vista to businesses. Vista went on sale broadly to consumers in January, at which point XP largely disappeared from retail shelves.

However, demand for XP has remained. In April, Dell brought XP back as an option even on consumer PCs. There is an issue, though, over how long PC makers can keep selling machines with Windows XP as the preloaded operating system. Microsoft is requiring large PC makers to stop selling XP-based systems as of January 31, though some PC makers would like to sell XP machines for longer.

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