"Downgrade rights policies are the same for all of our main OEM partners and what you are talking about is not a special arrangement. Since the End User right to Windows XP Professional is part of the license terms for these editions, it’s really about making facilitation options easier for our OEM customers and End Users."

And the same Volish insider hinted that it wasn't only possible to turn back the clocks from Windows 7 to Vista or even XP. "This is not the first time that Microsoft has offered downgrade rights to a version other than its immediate predecessor and our volume-license customers can always downgrade to any previous version of Windows."

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/...wngrade-policy