Beware Microsoft XP license trap warns Gartner
Under Microsoft's planned enterprise licensing rules, businesses that buy PCs before 23 April, 2010, with Windows 7 preinstalled can downgrade them to Windows XP, then later upgrade them to Windows 7 when they're ready to migrate their users.
But PCs bought on or after 23 April can only be downgraded to Vista -- which is of no help for XP-based organisations, Silver notes -- and could cause major headaches and add more costs to the Windows 7 migration effort.
Microsoft's PR firm told ComputerworldUK.com’s sister title InfoWorld, "It looks like Microsoft hasn’t made any announcements around timing for downgrade rights from Windows 7 to Windows XP yet." But Microsoft has several times discussed the six-month limit with and characterised it to him as a "public" policy. The policy is also clearly visible in a Microsoft PowerPoint slide.
