Dell Inc. declared on April 19, 2007, that it will once again offer Windows XP to its customers when they purchase certain new machines. When Windows Vista first launched in January of this year, Dell stopped offering Windows XP on most home desktops and laptops. By the end of March, the company only offered XP on two models aimed at home users. However, in light of recent posts on Dell’s IdeaStorm Web site, Dell has decided to offer XP again as an option for four models of its Inspiron notebook and two models of its Dimension desktop PC’s. A plea entitled “Don’t eliminate XP just yet” racked up more than 10,700 votes on the IdeaStorm page, and was the main reason for Dells change of heart. “Michael Gartenberg, vice president and research director of JupiterResearch, said many consumers continue to buy XP because it’s familiar, it works with their existing hardware and programs, and is overall “good enough,” even though Vista boasts a prettier user interface and stronger security.”
This is a perfect example of diffusion in networks. In recent lectures, we have learned that decisions by people to adopt new technologies are heavily influenced by the people to whom they are directly connected in their social network. In this article, the new technology, Windows Vista, is having a hard time spreading due to the existing technology, Windows XP. Prior to January, the large majority of PC owners used Windows XP as their operating system. When Vista hit the market for the new year, a certain small number of early adopters decided to upgrade their computers to Vista. Vista is clearly the more powerful technology, but the small number of computers utilizing this technology is certainly a deterrent for many people. Consumers may already be comfortable with XP because of its dominance over the past five years. Many consumers who buy new computers don’t want to have to deal with adjusting to an entirely new interface, especially when many of their friends and family have the old existing technology. As a result, many of Dell’s customers have decided that they want to purchase new computers with the old operating system installed on them.
Windows XP is not as technically sound or secure as Windows Vista, but due to its heavy establishment, it’s going to take quite a long time for Vista to become the dominant technology. People will only switch to the better technology when they can get the payoff benefits from a sizable fraction of the population already using it. Currently, the majority of PC owners aren’t going to want to go through the trouble of transitioning over to Vista since there isn’t a large population using it, and XP is good enough for their needs. However, this technology will eventually spread as Microsoft continues to market it, and as suppliers slowly limit the amount of products they sell with XP as the operating system.
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