Burzycki.org

“Microsoft is simplifying the processes via which its PC-maker
partners will be able to provide “downgrade” rights from Windows Vista
to Windows XP for their customers.

Microsoft will implement the first of the policy changes for its Gold
Certified (top-tier) OEM partners within the next couple of weeks. The
company will streamline downgrade-rights policies and procedures for
the broader channel somewhat later, said John Ball, general manager of
Microsoft’s U.S. Systems Group.

Under current licensing terms, Microsoft allows customers buying PCs
preloaded with Windows Vista Ultimate and Vista Business to roll back
to Windows XP until they are ready to make the move to Vista. For
OEMs, the process via which these rights can be activated has been
quite cumbersome, Ball acknowledged.

Under the current rules, OEMs must call about and file for each and
every machine the license keys required to downgrade from Vista to XP.
But Microsoft is planning to move to a new policy which will allow its
top 170 OEM partners to submit these keys online for groups of
machines, which will save them time and reduce complexity, Ball said.

Microsoft is working on ways to allow the rest of the channel to take
advantage of these simplified downgrade procedures, but is still in
the midst of hashing out the details, Ball said. He didn’t have a
timetable for when Microsoft will make its more liberal
downgrade-rights policies available to the rest of its PC partners.

Microsoft doesn’t view the popularity of user requests to downgrade
from Vista to XP as a ding against Vista, Ball emphasized. In fact, at
Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference in Denver in July, Microsoft
plans to evanglize Vista to its OEM and system-builder partners, and
play up Vista’s momentum as proof that system vendors should get on
the Vista bandwagon, Ball said.”…

Pulled from:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=543