It is nothing to do with Vista being a dead duck ... Feckit hit the nail on the head.
I have said it before, beat the drum, we had all this FUD with XP, Win 95 and 3.11 ...
It's no good saying you are selling PCs that a Vista capable, if all they can run is Vista basic. OK, MS should take some blame here, who the hell needs Vista basic ??
Dell's ain't selling, along with a few other big PC producers, people want 'cheap' PCs ... that means XP, or Linux.
Yep, "sales" of Vista are very thin on the ground ... so what, you do have a choice, just ask for what you want, if they do not supply, someone else will.