AMSTERDAM – The Consumers’ Association (Consumentenbond) has called on consumers when purchasing a new computer to explicitly ask for the operating system Windows XP. New PCs come standard with Windows XP’s successor Windows Vista but there are many complaints about this system.

The organisation has also called on shops to provide free Windows XP packages to clients who are having problems with Vista.

The Consumers’ Association took this decision on Thursday after a meeting with Microsoft to discuss the problems with Vista.

After a survey conducted by the Consumers’ Association showed that the performance of Microsoft’s latest operating system was very poor, the Association set up a registration centre for complaints about Vista. In less than five weeks 5,000 users filed complaints about the functioning of the system. “The product has many teething problems, it is just not ready,” a spokesperson for the association said. Printers and other hardware reportedly failed in combination with Vista, computers crash regularly and the peripherals are very slow.

The association had a meeting about the complaints with Microsoft Nederland on Thursday and suggested that Microsoft offer Windows XP as an alternative to clients who are having problems with Vista, but Microsoft refused. “Although they do offer Windows XP to their business clients when they are having problems,” the spokesperson for the association said.

Microsoft was not available for comment on Thursday night.

[Copyright Expatica News + ANP 2007]
Subject: Dutch news