A third of new PCs being downgraded to XP, says metrics researcher [Computerworld]

This remains a mystery to me -- I'm using Vista on my primary PCs at this point, and I consider it a major upgrade to XP.

More than one in every three new PCs is downgraded from Windows Vista to the older Windows XP, either at the factory or by the buyer, a performance and metrics researcher said today.

According to Devil Mountain Software Inc., which operates a community-based testing network, nearly 35% of the 3,000-plus PCs it examined had been downgraded from Vista to XP.

"Either these machines were downgraded by [sellers like] Dell or HP, or they were downgraded by the user after they got the machine," said Craig Barth, chief technology officer at Devil Mountain. "In any case, these machines are no longer running Vista."

A third of new PCs being downgraded to XP, says metrics researcher