Just so you know…
With Vista to XP you are looking to “upgrade” to a more familiar user experience.
With Windows to Linux you are looking to “upgrade” to a more challenging user experience.
More challenging? Perhaps in some regard, but one might argue that it’s worth the effort. It certainly was for me. Besides, the community is great at helping people out. Far better than the windows community in my experience.
…But, whatever works best for you.
Dont go to Linux, Microsoft products are the reason that I have a job. I cant see why you wouldnt like vista I’ve been using it since longhorn alpha release which was still pretty much just xp and I loved it. It has always been better than xp you just have to get used to it. Like it was said before the reason vista seems to use more memory is just that it uses it more efficiently.
Don’t go to Microsoft. Microsoft products are the reason I have very little hair left on my head. IMO they are consistently buggy, bloated, unreliable, overly resource intensive, overly proprietary, don’t play well with other NON-Microsoft products, and lastly support for Joe Q public individual stinks.
You’re better off with just about anything else by anyone else. IMO
Go Linux if your able. I’m fortunate that my company has decided to retire and eliminate all requirements for MS based products and move all “Mission Critical” applications to Linux for the very reasons I’ve stated.
Make sure this is really what you want to do.
First you need to back up any files that you have on your laptop you want to keep on CD or DVD.
Check and see if your system is 32 bit or 64 bit. Xp you will need to know which one you have to install the right version.
Clean/reformat your hard drive. Partition it the way you want it.
Install XP
There are mixed feelings with Vista. I know people who love it but others who are having problems with it because of hardware incompatibilities and crashes.
AS for me, I love XP. Until the bugs are out of VISTA - I will not install it on my system.
Whatever you do dont install xp 64bit its probably the worst os since ME nothing supports it and never will 64bit vista drivers and 32bit drivers dont work with it. You would be lucky to find any drivers at all for it. There are also very few updates for it. If you want 64bit you are much better off with vista because those drivers will be easier to find. I would suggest that if you havent already purchased MS office go with open office. This is because the number of security vulnerabilities in MS office is triple that of xp sp1. office 2007 is the worst. Oh and as long as you dont download anything that says “This is not spyware” you’ll be fine because legit companies wont say that.
i agree with the upgrade to linux…i run ubuntu on my desktop, however i can’t on my laptop because linux + dells = death, and i was too dumb to buy one of the linux notebooks from dell…
i also wanted to go to xp on my laptop which came with vista home premium…after installing i realized i needed a bunch of drivers…too much trouble if you ask me…it really depends on what you’re gonna do with that computer. i realized that i wanted my laptop for just doing work like building our team’s website and such…
for the record…i don’t see what all the fuss is about with vista…if anyone is having trouble with it i think you may have other problems you should deal with first…
Hey Guys, I know its a little off topic, but this is the closest thread to my question. I just got a new laptop with vista. I am wondering if the programming software that comes with the kit MP LAB will work on it. I was on Microchips website and couldnt find anything that says it doesnt work on vista, so I decided to ask here. Any info helps, thanks.
Yes it will I am using it on a vista system right now and have had no problems
Thanks
Vista… lovers?
Sorry, but I take MY morning meds with a strong cup of Ubuntu, and some XP tablets if I’m feeling down.
Levels of Computer Operating Systems:
(<-- Weak … Strong -->)
Macintosh | Windows Vista | Windows XP | Ubuntu and other distros
(<-- User-Friendly … Geek-Intensive -->)
Macintosh | Windows Vista | Windows XP | Ubuntu and other distros | Solaris
But then again, Ubuntu distros come with alternatives to Paint Shop/Photoshop, Office Suite, and many programming systems. Probably better suited for robotics, which is mostly programming and internet management anyways. Well, for the parts that require a computer.
A Linux user that belittles the power of a Macintosh OS. :yikes:
At any rate, why would anyone want to rebuild there system (generally speaking) just to upgrade to the latest OS. XP runs just fine for anyone that I know, and therefore Vista is just a waste of your time. 
i think the correct term for reloading XP over Vista is Upgrading but thats just me. as for Ubuntu i used it and found it was okay but i would rather use my backtrack live CD any day.