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Hi James:

Gosh, I'd wish you'd call me Al (Mr. alborg?), especially since we've known each other for so long. We may disagree in that you promote and have a business selling IT products while I'm an end-user; you make money on IT while I have to purchase/lose money on hardware and software. We just have different spectacles through which we see the value of IT- both hardware and software.

James, for some other purchases, I do exactly what you do, which is to skip a generation or two. When it comes to Windows XP, though, it's so stable, and looking at the fact that BOTH of my hospitals still use Windows XP, I prefer to stay put. Remember- my EMR uses MS Office 2003 which all my hospitals also still have on just about all of their computers, which I use by putting all of my patient information on a password protected USB drive. The cost of a refurbished Win XP D630 costs about the same as the total cost of Windows 7 Ultimate. At least for my EMR needs, Windows XP suffices now and I suppose to the far off future without having to throw away non-Windows 7 compatible hardware, s.a. computers, printers and scanners.

Like you stated, depending on the person- if someone is starting a whole new setup, then by all means, they should not buy backwards into Windows XP. For those with WinXP already installed on most of their network, then they should think twice about their needs... both Win 7 and Win XP should be considered.

For me, I just happen to like Win XP a lot and it suits my needs perfectly, as do the WinXP laptops. I once purchased a beautiful Dell 17" laptop once with Vista set up on it- I ended up giving it to my son for him to play video games. I simply don't believe in mixing up Windows versions in my medical office. Last time I did, with Win 98 and Win 2000, it was a disaster when an undocumented bug appeared with MS Access database corruption.

About the downtime issue- I have so many laptops that are still working, that when one goes down I simply swap it out (without any downtime). We're not talking about the backend server here- just one node in a LAN configuration.

I don't believe that I'm cutting any corners... I'm just being an "educated consumer" by buying smart and getting the best deal possible while maintaining the most stable configuration possible that I know how to use and fix. I just can't afford to throw money away at technology when the gain is minimal, if any, at best.

Cheers,
Al