Texas Plans Ban of Vista From Government PCs
Earlier this week, the Texas state Senate gave preliminary approval to a policy that would forbid the installation of Windows Vista on government computers.
Everyone, including Microsoft, knows that Windows Vista isn’t the most appreciated of operating systems. Large businesses have chosen to stick with Windows XP for support issues, and some consumers shy away from Windows Vista based on performance and other things they have heard.
Even though Windows 7 is nearly upon us, the Texas state Senate gave preliminary approval to a budget that would include a policy to ban the use of Windows Vista on government computers.
ComputerWorld reports that Sen. Juan Hinojosa proposed the bill because "of the many reports of problems with Vista."
"We are not in any way, shape or form trying to pick on Microsoft, but the problems with this particular [operating] system are known nationwide," Hinojosa said. "And the XP operating system is working very well."
While the bill also outlines that agencies who have a use for Windows Vista would have to first get the written approval of the Legislative Budget Board.
Microsoft was predictably disappointed by the proposal. "We're surprised that the Texas Senate Finance Committee adopted a rider which, in effect, singles out a specific corporation and product for unequal treatment,” a spokeswoman wrote. “We hope as the budget continues to go through the process, this language will be removed."
Texas Department of Information Resources spokesman David Duncan said that the department’s 265 employees remain on Windows XP and Mac OS X, and might skip straight to Windows 7 at the next upgrade. "We're not holding off as a reaction to what Microsoft is producing," he said, adding that Windows 7 also fits better with the agency’s upgrade cycle.
This still another black mark on Windows Vista, but fortunately for Microsoft, Windows 7 is the next big thing.
I'm thinking they could save money by hiring new IT.
Indeed I´m using Vista64 for about 6 months and nothing has gone wrong till now. I´m pretty confident that they're trying to use outdated programs which doesn't work well with the new vista structure.
Kekeke
And compare the Newegg reviews of vista to the general public's.
"Texas Department of Information Resources spokesman David Duncan said that the department’s 265 employees remain on Windows XP and Mac OS X, and might skip straight to Windows 7 at the next upgrade. "
Once again people bashing Vista without trying it. I run the IT dept. at our company and all new machines have Vista business. We are slowly replacing the slower macs with Vista machines. Our last IT guy had the whole company on Macs. I have zero problems (other than dumb user error) with running 16 macs along with 13 Vista PC's. Vista is more secure.
Is April fools over?
LOL at whoever made this decision.
And it works great for gaming, almost no difference to XP once you slim it down to only what you need.
Will I ever install it at my company? Oh hell no! Users are dumb enough as it is with computers, Vista just makes them more agrevated after using XP for 8 years.
Server 2k8? That's another story, best bit of software to come out of microsoft to date, all but two of my servers (file and backup) are under 1GB of storage! VM's of course on VMware ESX. Core install all the way!!!!!
Running mixed systems is not a big deal for an average IT guy.
It will never pass..... MS would probably sue the Texas Gov back to the stone age.
What a dumbass.
He would have more luck banning ugly people from working in gov.
Seems that someone already banned smart people.
For the people who live in Texas: Your tax dollars at work. Sure, the state may have problems with illegal border crossings, budgetary issues, potentially crippling water shortages... but this Vista thing. THIS is something that needs attention!