[Leaplist] US DoT bans Vista, Office 2007, IE7 upgrades

[Ray Brunkow]

http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=197700789   
  

March 2, 2007 12:00 PM

Citing concerns over cost and compatibility, the top technology official 
at the federal Department of Transportation has placed a moratorium on 
all in-house computer upgrades to Microsoft's new Windows Vista 
operating system, as well as Internet Explorer 7 and Office 2007, 
according to a memo obtained Friday by /InformationWeek/.

In a memo to his staff, the DOT's CIO Daniel Mintz says he has placed 
"an indefinite moratorium" on the upgrades as "there appears to be no 
compelling technical or business case for upgrading to these new 
Microsoft software products. Furthermore, there appears to be specific 
reasons not to upgrade."

Among the concerns cited by Mintz are compatibility with software 
applications currently in use at the department, the cost of an upgrade, 
and DOT's move to a new headquarters in Washington later this year. 
"Microsoft Vista, Office 2007, and Internet Explorer [7] may be acquired 
for testing purposes only, though only on approval by the DOT chief 
information officer," Mintz writes.

The memo is dated Jan. 19. In an interview Friday, DOT chief technology 
officer Tim Schmidt confirmed that the ban is still in effect. "We're 
analyzing different client software options and also integration 
issues," says Schmidt. Among the options the Transportation Department 
is weighing as a possible alternative or complement to Windows Vista are 
Novell's Suse Linux and, for a limited group of users, Apple's Macintosh 
hardware and software, he says.

Schmidt says the Transportation Department hasn't ruled out upgrading 
its computers to Windows Vista if all of its concerns about the new 
operating system -- the business version of which was launched late last 
year 
<http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=197001449> 
-- can be resolved. "We have more confidence in Microsoft than we would 
have 10 years ago," says Schmidt. "But it always makes sense to look at 
the security implications, the value back to the customer, and those 
kind of issues."

The DOT's ban on Vista, Internet Explorer 7, and Office 2007 applies to 
15,000 computer users at DOT proper who are currently running the 
Windows XP Professional operating system. The memo indicates that a 
similar ban is in effect at the Federal Aviation Administration, which 
has 45,000 desktop users.

Compatibility with existing applications appears to be the 
Transportation Department's major concern. According to a separate memo, 
a number of key software applications and utilities in use in various 
branches of the department aren't Vista compatible 
<http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=197008462>. 
Among them are Aspen 2.8.1, ISS 2.11, ProVu 3.1.1, and Capri 6.5, 
according to a memo issued by staffers at the DOT's Federal Motor 
Carrier Safety Administration.

Any prolonged ban on new Microsoft technologies by the federal 
government could have a significant impact on the software maker's 
bottom line, as Microsoft sells millions of dollars in software to the 
feds annually.


-- 
Raymond L. Brunkow
5th Degree Black Belt
Chief Instructor and Owner
Sun State Martial Arts
407-786-2525
http://www.SunStateMartialArts.com

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