Vista off-limits, say two US gov agencies

Windows Vista has been banned by the US Department of Transportation (DoT) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (Nist). The agencies have cited fear of compatibility problems as one of the reasons not to allow their tens of thousands of employees to upgrade to Microsoft's latest operating system.

A Nist spokesman said: "We are temporarily not permitting computers with the Vista operating system to be connected to our networks." The organisation's technology staff is testing Nist applications and evaluating the security in Windows Vista. The same holds true for Internet Explorer 7 and Office 2007, he said.

It is not unusual that agencies aren't rushing to install major software updates. Large organisations in particular tend to do a lot of testing before upgrading. The same happened when Microsoft released Service Pack 2 for Windows XP. The actions by DoT, which employs about 54,000 people, and Nist, with 2,900 employees, were first reported by Information Week.

The DoT also bans Vista, Office 2007 and IE 7. In addition to compatibility concerns, the department lists cost, available funding and a pending headquarters move as reasons not to upgrade, according to a DoT memo dated 19 January. The memo is still current, a DoT representative said.

According to the memo: "There appears to be no compelling technical or business case for upgrading to these new Microsoft software products." The department plans to issue an update next month to clarify its strategy for 2008 and beyond, the representative said.

In a statement, Microsoft said it is working with many government agencies to help them adopt its latest products. "We respect the customer's decision," the company said.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the largest organisation under the DoT, is taking the opportunity to consider alternatives to Microsoft's operating system and productivity software, said an FAA spokeswoman. This includes including running Linux on desktops and using Google's online applications, she said.

She added: "We're trying to see what the cost impact would be to the FAA to convert to the new Microsoft products. We want to explore what some of the alternatives are. Google is one that we're looking at, so is Linux." The FAA has about 45,000 employees.

Joris Evers writes for CNET News.com