<table cellspacing='0' cellpadding='0' border='0' ><tr><td valign='top' style='font: inherit;'>I'm trying to help a local school get some Linux machines (for admin and staff use).  They had decided to go with Dell and get some desktops with Ubuntu pre-installed.  They were offering pretty decent machines for cheap.  Then Dell informed us that they couldn't give us the advertised special because we're a school.  Go figure.  Instead they would sell us the same machine for MORE money.  Also, the only OS option is Vista Business.  I'm talking to HP and others now.  They're willing to _try_ to match Dell's original price, but they also insist on installing Windows.  They want to install WinXP Pro.   The school thought about going with a white-box assembler and getting no-OS machines, but they decided they wanted a big well-known vendor. So, what are my options?  Let's say I get some vendor to sell us machines with WinXP pre-installed.  Maybe I can use this to our advantage and offer some extra Windows support?  How about re-sizing the pre-installed windows partition and making them dual-boot?  I also recall that it's possible to run wine by accessing the DLL's on an existing windows partition.  Is this a good option?  -- Please avoid sending me Word or PowerPoint attachments. See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html</td></tr></table>