Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) seems to be positioning itself as the de facto corporate champion of saving XP and saving its customers from Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) much-maligned Vista operating system. Dell announced it would charge $20 to $50 extra to some customers to "downgrade" to Windows XP. Dell even puts the "downgrade" in quotes, the idea is so ridiculous. In reality the fee is more like $100-150 because many customers will have to upgrade their version of Vista to downgrade to XP.

On the surface, this extra charge may sound like bad news, that getting XP is going to be even more difficult. But I see this as a way for Dell to ensure there is still some legitimate way to keep getting XP even after June 30, when Microsoft wants to kill it off.

There's been much speculation about whether Microsoft would relent and postpone the demise of XP another time. I also take this news to mean that it will not. Time's up. In some ways the deadline was just moved up to June 18--that's when Dell stopped pre-installing XP.
Dell announced in May on a company blog how to "downgrade" your system, which takes advantage of certain rights that come with Vista. They have linked to InfoWorld's Save XP petition. Dell is being really clever, positioning itself as almost a consumer advocate, the last bastion of XP.

There are several large catches with this deal. Dell is only offering it on low-end Vostro and gaming computers (for a fee) and high-end business computers (for free). And it only works with the more expensive versions of Vista, Business and Ultimate. If you have just Vista Home, you're stuck. Unless you're willing to pay to upgrade to Vista Ultimate or Business. So Dell has this internal ad, "Windows XP to Windows Vista: Transition on Your Own Schedule." For many people, that schedule would be never.

For now Vostro customers can look for the option "Genuine Windows^® Vista Business BONUS" and "Genuine Windows^® Vista Ultimate BONUS." By BONUS, they mean it comes with XP pre-installed. For the bottom end $399 Vostro laptop, it's $99 to get the version with XP. According to InfoWorld, it will cost an extra $50 on top of the Operating System to "downgrade" from Vista Business and $20 from Vista Ultimate.

Both Dell and Microsoft say the other one decided which computers to allow to get XP and a reprieve from Vista, according to Gregg Keizer from ComputerWorld. Dell says that Microsoft is the one figuring out which computers are eligible for XP. For now I'm just happy there's still a backdoor into XP.