Dell forced to sell XP

Customer demand calls for Dell to restart XP PCs

20 April 2007 14:11 GMT / By Ryan Haynes

Dell has become the latest victim of online democracy. Following in the footsteps of the UK Government when Tony Blair wanted to hear people's feedback on new road taxing schemes, Dell had to respond to customer feedback it asked for.

A decision in January by the PC manufacturers meant Windows Vista was the only operating system available on all new home machines. But swamped by consumer backlash and calls for the return of Windows XP, Dell will offer the software on six models.

Unlike political action, Dell hasn't provided an ambiguous statement, instead it responded by giving users exactly what they want.

Dell is currently the second-largest PC seller in the world and has a 15.2% share of the overall PC market.

Pleas were posted on its Ideastorm website which invites customers to post suggestions about how the PC maker can meet their needs, through which the policy was changed.

Almost 11,000 votes encourage the reverse policy and Dell said it would offer the operating system on four models of Inspiron notebooks and two Dimension desktop PCs.

As of January 2008 consumers won't have a choice after Microsoft announced it will no longer sell licences of the operating system.