The Associated Press March 22, 2007, 2:26PM EST
Federal agency bans Microsoft Vista

A federal agency is refusing to upgrade its computers with Microsoft
Corp.'s Windows Vista operating system, citing concern over costs and
compatibility issues.

In a Jan. 19 memo to staff, Dan Mintz, the Transportation Department's
chief information officer, imposed an "indefinite moratorium" on upgrading
desktop and laptop computers with the new operating system, Office 2007
and Internet Explorer 7.

Mintz wrote that there is "no compelling technical or business case" to
upgrade to the new products and specific reasons not to upgrade.

He cited hardware, software and labor costs, compatibility issues with
current applications and limited funding. He also wrote technology staff
will be busy with the agency's move to a new headquarters. Because the
agency has a multiyear contract with Microsoft, the upgraded software is free.

The memo says the software only may be acquired for testing purposes and
only with the CIO's approval.

"They're doing their due diligence," said Keith Hodson, Microsoft spokesman.

Hodson said Microsoft will be meeting with Transportation Department
officials soon to explain the business and technical value of Vista. He
said that meeting was set up before the news about the ban.

Hodson said he doesn't know of any other agency that has banned upgrading
to Vista.

The details of Mintz's memo were first reported earlier this month by
InformationWeek, a technology trade publication.

Beware that WinXP is not fully compatible with some BIOS installed on
Vista
computers. This makes it difficult to buy a Vista installed computer,
remove Vista and install WinXP. An example of BIOS incompatibility is a
laptop that crashes when XP is placed in Hibernate mode. What's worse is
the fact that there is a conspiracy by Microsoft to not license new XP
computers, forcing the inferior Vista on the manufacturers who would
rather
offer an XP option.