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Many business customers are reluctant to upgrade to Vista because of training costs and compatibility issues, but Microsoft has announced that it will stop selling XP by the end of June 2008.

NEC's FlexLoad uses Microsoft's <

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downgrade option to revert from Vista to XP, without the need to purchase any additional licenses.

"It means that we can provide customers with XP after the cut-off date in summer. It's about giving customers what they want. This summer's deadline will accelerate the uptake of Vista, but a lot of companies want to remain using XP," says David Newbould of NEC.

Many manufacturers have taken advantage of Microsoft's downgrade option and bundled XP restoration discs with new machines, but FlexLoad claims to automate and speed-up the task.

The tool allows administrators "without any specific technical skills" to change from a Vista installation to XP within 15 minutes, claims NEC.

"It's standard on notebooks that we're shipping now, but on desktops it's an option," says Newbould.

To buy the product alone costs just £10, while it's a £7 option on new desktop sales.