Less than a year after its much-hyped rollout of Vista, Microsoft is giving in to the demands of computer manufacturers and business users by allowing a return to XP. Dell already offer customers a choice of O/S in response to demand from buyers. Now Microsoft itself is offering an XP downgrade option to Vista Business and Vista Ultimate users, but hard luck on those with Vista Home Premium and Home Basic who are still stuck with the new O/S.

The revolt against Vista is hardly surprising after its less-than-stellar launch, and follow-up customer reviews have been mixed. Its bread-and-butter customer base has also proved reluctant to implement Vista because of the accompanying need for costly upgrades to peripherals, a problem Microsoft obviously didn't foresee.

Visibly worried at the speeded up encroachment of Apple into its market, Microsoft predicted that Vista adoption will pick up next year.

Kate