Dell's subtle message: Buy XP if you want to

When Dell runs its glossy ad in the newspaper (and this newspaper among them) on Sunday, systems are offered with Windows Vista Home Premium (or, in cases of poor features, Vista Home Basic).

But on what seems to be a weekly basis, Dell has been buying ads inside the front sections of major newspapers and offering a choice of Windows XP or Vista Home Basic, with the unwritten hint being to choose XP.

In fact, Dell -- actually Dell's corporate customers who don't want anything to do with Vista at this point -- has been the prime mover in Microsoft's decision to extend the life of XP.

(Going slightly off-track... ) For those comparing Windows Vista with the new Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, here's some interesting reading from Microsoft-Watch:

Why Leopard Isn't Better than Vista
Why Leopard Is Better than Vista

Back to XP. It would be nice, wouldn't it, to try both XP and Vista on your new PC to see which one is a better "fit"? But since Microsoft isn't about that (unless you fork over the cash for both), I'd give the PC you're planning to buy a test run, if at all possible. In the case of Dell, you can go to those mall kiosks. And many HP/Compaq systems are carried by the major office-tech stores (Office Depot, Staples, Best Buy, etc.).

Rules of thumb: XP runs well in 512 MB of memory. Vista needs 1 GB but wants 2 GB -- or at least that's what geeks are saying. If you have an Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD dual-core processor, you'll be happier with Vista than if you have a Intel Pentium/Celeron or single-core AMD processor. And in all cases, a good video card or graphics chipset with its own memory will make your experience better with any operating system.

Eventually the XP vs. Vista battle will be over. And Vista will stand alone. That's Microsoft's plan -- and these sort of things always go according to plan where Redmond is concerned.