Are Mac users buying the remaining copies of Windows XP?

Six hours ago Ina Fried wrote that Windows XP is a hot item at Amazon.com. The full version of XP Home was number 15 on the software hit parade and the full version of XP Professional was number 21. Amazon updates the list hourly. As I write this, XP Professional is up to number 14, though XP Home slipped down to 16.

There are many ways to slice and dice Windows XP, but I'm going to focus on three "families" - full (expensive), upgrade and OEM (cheap).

The two best selling versions at Amazon are from the "full" family. Full versions of XP can be installed on a virgin computer, or more likely, a virgin virtual machine. My guess is that Mac users are gobbling up the full editions of XP to run in virtual machines alongside OS X. I say this because Mac OS X Leopard is number 7 on the list, VMware Fusion is number 5 and Parallels Desktop is number 17. Fusion and Parallels both provide virtual machines for OS X.

I also think this because the more expensive full versions of XP are outselling the cheaper upgrade versions.

The upgrade version of XP is what most people buying a shrink-wrapped copy of the operating system purchased over the last seven years. Before an upgrade edition of XP installs, it has to find either an older copy of Windows already on the computer, or you have to provide it with a CD of an earlier copy of Windows. The description of the upgrade edition of XP at Amazon.com is wrong. It says "Upgrade only; previous version of XP required." You need a previous version of Windows, not a previous version of XP. For example, upgrade versions of XP will install fine when presented with a copy of Windows 2000.

Both the upgrade and the full versions of XP share a common trait, they are retail editions. As such, tech support is provided by Microsoft and you can call them on the phone for help. I forget the exact rules but the first couple or so calls are free. At least until April 2009 when Microsoft will no longer offer free tech support for retail copies of XP.

Finally, there are OEM copies of Windows XP, sold by retailers such as NewEgg (which also sells the full and upgrade editions). These are the cheapest way to go, but they include no tech support at all. The intended audience for OEM copies are small companies that build computers. When you buy a computer with Windows XP pre-installed from such a company (often called a "system builder") they provide tech support for Windows, not Microsoft.

Another difference is that the retail copies of Windows XP can be installed on one computer at a time. If the computer dies, you can move that copy to a different machine. Not so with the OEM copies. They are married to the computer they are first installed on. If it dies, so too does your license to run that copy of Windows.

For those of us that prefer XP over Vista, an important difference between the OEM and retail editions is that Microsoft still offers the OEM editions. The retail versions are being from stock by retailers. When the stock runs out that's it.

Who can buy OEM copies of Windows XP? According to this June 24th article at PC Magazine, anyone willing to live by the OEM rules.

Of course, buying a shrink-wrapped copy of XP is only one many ways to still get your hands on a copy.

Windows XP will be supported by Microsoft until 2014, so an investment in a shrink-wrapped copy won't sour.

See a summary of all my Defensive Computing postings.

[Kev Orng]

Seems unlikely, just because you CAN run both OSes on a Mac, doesn't mean you will. And even if you are going to, doesn't mean every Mac owner is buying XP suddenly this week.
For me, I have nothing against Windows, or Linux for that matter; users should pick what best suits their needs. Personally, I don't need a second OS on my Mac at this point, and I don't foresee it happening soon.

That being said, if circumstances changed and I had to install Windows on my Mac for some reason, I'd get the bare minimum required. I wouldn't be be buying the more expensive version. But until then, I already have an OS, I don't need two.

[rcrusoe]

No XP for my Mac either. I'm a Windows/Mac/Linux/Solaris, etc. network admin and I've been MS free for years with the exception of their Remote Desktop Client.

[MadLyb]

Not just Mac users, but for much the same reason. I purchased two additional copies. One for a planned new system build I am going to do later this year and the other is for use in the VM's I regularly use for non-gaming activities.

[rcrusoe]

I'd be surprised if a lot of small businesses weren't also buying a few copies of XP these days. Vista isn't an option for a lot of Windows users.

[dadsgravy]

Well, I'm a mac user and I'm buying xp before it is gone. That was my theory anyway. Really don't want Vista. Though it does look pretty and I think it gets a bad rap. I just don't trust it to run well on my first generation macbook with it's 64mb of integrated graphics and it's max of 2GB RAM. Besides, XP owns the Microsoft side of my heart.

[shldvebnacwby]

Just a side note, what was said about the OEM copies of Windows is wrong. OEM copies can be transferred from computer to computer. There is a tag on computers bought from Dell, HP, etc. with the licensing code on it. If the OEM computer dies, remove the sticker (or just write down the number) and use the code printed on it when the new installation of xp asks for the product key.

[mhinnewyork]

I was told this by a Microsoft representative. It could very well be that the rules for machines purchased from Dell and HP are different than the rules for machines purchased from System Builders. Michael Horowitz

[MadKiwi]

I recently bought two, neither for my Mac, but for a new PC I am building and to have a spare for the next PC I build. The PCs I build are more than capable of running Vista but I'm not going to touch it with a barge pole because I have seen all the issues my friends with Vista have - difficulty networking, very slow join network games, poor game performance, annoying "security" features etc.

[MSSlayer]

I don't know why people would rush to buy it, MS will be forced to put it back on the market within the next 6-12 months.

Vista is a flop and Windows 7 will either be released broken or keep getting delayed.

It will come down to accepting profit with XP or sinking with Vista.

[JadedGamer]

I own a MacBook Pro 1st gen and wish I had gone for XP instead of Vista 64 for my Windows partition. Ah I was curious about Vita - but that resource hog cannot even run Vista plus Opera on battery power - I need to use the power supply or the machine just turns itself off.

[manoaHI]

I fully agree with rcrusoe. We are a medium sized business and all of our new computers are pre-loaded with Vista Business. Vista is wiped out by formatting the HDD and XP is installed. It's not that we don't have the proper configs to run Vista, it is just that we have not yet had the time to test all of our apps on Vista. We have many new systems going in (Linux/Solaris) that we don't want to add in any unnecessary variations into this transition.

I, personally, own a MacBook Pro (2.6 GHz/4 GB RAM, 250 GB disk, with 2 TB in NAS - the NAS is shared with the family - OS X and XP), I run Fusion and Vista Ultimate 64bit SP1. I don't get Aero, but I run Office 2007 which is a lot better than the Mac version. I don't see the need to run XP since Vista works fine for me. A bit overkill for Office though. Once in a while I get a stupid Web site that only accepts IE, then that is when I really appreciate the Vista install. I also have Solaris 10 and Ubuntu (Hardy Heron) installed (Disk Alloc: 60 GB to Win and 10 GB to each of the *NIX), but I spend 80% of my time in OS X.

[manoaHI]

I fully agree with rcrusoe. We are a medium sized business and all of our new computers are pre-loaded with Vista Business. Vista is wiped out by formatting the HDD and XP is installed. It's not that we don't have the proper configs to run Vista, it is just that we have not yet had the time to test all of our apps on Vista. We have many new systems going in (Linux/Solaris) that we don't want to add in any unnecessary variations into this transition.

I, personally, own a MacBook Pro (2.6 GHz/4 GB RAM, 250 GB disk, with 2 TB in NAS - the NAS is shared with the family - OS X and XP), I run Fusion and Vista Ultimate 64bit SP1. I don't get Aero, but I run Office 2007 which is a lot better than the Mac version. I don't see the need to run XP since Vista works fine for me. A bit overkill for Office though. Once in a while I get a stupid Web site that only accepts IE, then that is when I really appreciate the Vista install. I also have Solaris 10 and Ubuntu (Hardy Heron) installed (Disk Alloc: 60 GB to Win and 10 GB to each of the *NIX), but I spend 80% of my time in OS X.