Dell bundling Vista again: Nothing new
Every Mac blogger has been linking to this MacNN article about Dell giving users the option to have their Dell preinstalled with Windows xp instead of Vista. Ever since that post, my RSS reader has blown up with writers casting their own thoughts on the decision. Not one person has researched it enough to know that Dell has been selling systems with xp since 2001 and never stopped; even after Vista was released.
Prior to yesterday's article, Dell was shipping its Optiplex, Latitude and Precision line of systems with the option of Windows xp or Windows Vista preinstalled. Dell simply added their Dimension (marketed to home users) to that line up of machines that have the option for Windows xp. Dell didn't just decide to start selling xp again. They never stopped. The models I listed above are workstations for small business and enterprise customers. Dell just added the dimension to that choice of products.
I won't disregard the fact that Dell is doing this because of customer demand and the demand for xp is showing a negative outlook for Windows Vista but for all of you that think Dell just started reverting back to xp; you're wrong.