1) Do MS have a consistent business practice of allowing downgrades to previous versions of Windows? Yes or no.
NO.
As I have already pointed out to your closed ear flaps, in ALL previous releases, Microsoft merely stated that "downgrading" was an "acceptable" practice by end-users. It *WAS* a violation, however, for resellers to INCLUDE the downgrade disks as a part of the product. Users were told to search other channels to find the downgrade OS copy.
Try actually READING the HP product literature you posted earlier: it states clearly that users should not contact either Microsoft nor HP to get a downgrade OS disk set.
I pointed it out earlier, but you continue to ignore it for ego reasons.
IN THE CASE OF VISTA, my friend, Microsoft, under extreme pressure from the PC manufacturers, has agreed that the PC manufacturers are allowed to INCLUDE the "downgrade" version of XP on disks in the box as a part of the actual sale of units. That is not at all a "consistent business practice" from the previous releases to the Vista release. Allowing the manufacturers to advertise "XP INCLUDED" on the box is a huge admission of failure by Microsoft. It is a completely new business model for the "downgrade" concept -- the revenue for an "INCLUDED DOWNGRADE" now flows directly to Microsoft and the manufacturers, where it never did before -- the revenue used to go to 3rd party after-market channels.
AND WHAT'S EVEN WORSE FOR YOUR MICROSOFT-EGO, my friend, is that Microsoft is now being SLIMY and counting the revenue from XP downgrades (demanded by enough consumers that HP vigorously negotiated the right to extend the NEW ARRANGEMENT OF INCLUDED XP MEDIA) as Vista purchases. And THAT, my friend, is where you are getting your silly bubble-gum-boasting figures about Vista market share in comparison to XP:
2) Is Vista's market share going up roughly in parallel to XP's decline allowing for a small amount of leakage to Mac OS X? Yes or no.
NO.
How do you compute such a curve when XP is included with Vista, because the consumers demand it to be so? Which bin do the beans go in? Is it an XP sale or a Vista sale?
"Microsoft only allows Windows XP Pro or Windows XP Tablet to be bundled with new PCs as restore media, which the company refers to as an "XP downgrade." This enables the company to claim having sold a Windows Vista license for all new shipping PCs; it continues to insist that PC makers ship their machines with Vista pre-installed." From that silly fansite you hate so much:
http://www.appleinsider.com/article...p_to_wipe_windows_7_with_xp_through_2010.html
Sorry to say, you stepped right in it. Too much banging on your bong I'm afraid.
