Dell users demand XP back

I see the BBC are reporting that after a campaign by customers - Dell is again offering Windows XP with new PCs as an alternative to Vista.

Michael Silver, research vice president at Gartner said this is odd behaviour for consumers - who tend to opt for the latest versions of everything.

But is it that odd?

Perhaps it shows that consumers are getting a little more wary of hype and a little bit more sophisticated in their IT purchases. Maybe after spending years getting the hang of their OS, they don't want to have to learn something new. I know I don't.

I also know that all my software runs fine under XP and isn't all guaranteed to work under Vista. So I'm not just a techno-luddite. Honest. I suspect a lot of business IT folk will be thinking the same thing. Cost of hardware upgrades / cost of retraining / new software and support.... Is it possible home users are thinking the same thing? 

So - what would you buy? Do you even care? I see Dell also do Linux and I'm seriously wondering about a Mac next time.