Microsoft has started to offer a 'downgrade' option to PC manufacturers, allowing customers to switch back to Windows XP on some new Vista machines. Because of training and hardware upgrade costs, many business purchasers have been reluctant to make the upgrade to Vista, and this move will enable them to purchase new machines and still run XP.

The option is only available on Business and Ultimate versions of Vista, but several manufacturers have already started to offer XP Restore discs. Fujitsu and HP have already begun offering the discs with selected business machines, although it's too early to gauge how popular the option has been for either manufacturer.

Other manufacturers are offering the discs to purchase, and some are even setting up websites with advice for those wishing to downgrade.

Customers have always had the right to downgrade from Vista to XP, according to the licensing agreement under which it's purchased, but the addition of these restore discs makes changing the OS a far easier procedure.

There has been a steady demand for new copies of Windows XP since Microsoft launched Vista, causing some to speculate that they will move their January 31st 2008 deadline for resellers to stop offering the OS as a pre-installed option.

Most notably, customer pressure forced Dell to offer its machines with XP as well as Vista earlier this year.