Downgrade rights for Windows 7 will be “hugely important,” an analyst said Thursday, but he’s not optimistic that Microsoft Corp. will let users continue to install Windows XP on new machines.

The company had planned to end the option with the shipping of Windows 7 Service Pack 1, which entered beta on Monday. During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried changed beats several times, changed ...

Microsoft’s decision to take a radical departure in the user interface of Windows 8 has many of its customers asking the same question. Microsoft has always had downgrade rights in place for its ...

Personally, I think Windows 7 will be the next Windows XP (read: I think it will rock) and that this issue will mostly go away relatively soon after the Windows 7 launch. People will mostly skip ...

So you can get a box with W7 Pro OEM, wipe it, install another OS, install W7 on a VM enter your license key and activate (it works! it's in the EULA!). W7 Pro includes downgrade rights up to XP.

Microsoft is known for some rather draconian licensing policies. The company will sell you just about any combination of its products you want, but creates extremely unfavorable pricing options when ...

The clock is ticking on the demise of some downgrade rights for Windows 7, an analyst said Thursday. Last year, Microsoft said that customers could downgrade new machines purchased with Windows 7 ...

Analyst is not optimistic Microsoft will let users install XP on new machines, even though downgrade rights are just as important for Windows 7 as they've been for Vista Downgrade rights for Windows 7 ...