And predicts a change of heart

Mar 7, 2007 15:31 GMT  ·  By

Yesterday you were able to read a piece about organizations that have ostracized upgrades to Windows Vista. Among these I gave the examples of Intel and the US Department of Transportation. While Intel will make the switch to Windows Vista following the first service pack for Windows Vista, the US Department of Transportation has indefinitely postponed upgrades to Windows Vista, the 2007 Office system and Internet Explorer 7.

Today Microsoft issued an official response in relation to the decision of the US Department of Transportation. Although Microsoft's comments are limited to DOT, they can be generalized to address all organizations that have banned Vista upgrades.

"We respect the customer's decision. We are engaged with large, strategic customers across government at every level, and are working closely with them on these products through their participation in our Technical Adoption Programs. Windows Vista, Office 2007, and IE7 are widely recognized by independent analysts to offer dramatic improvements in security, management features, new collaboration capabilities and productivity enhancements. Ultimately we think we can help DOT understand how these products can help its enterprise organization," a Microsoft spokeswoman stated in an email to Mary Jo Foley.

Microsoft is confident that, ultimately, DOT and other organizations and companies that are not considering upgrading to Windows Vista at the present will have a change of heart. At the basis of Microsoft's conviction are the new capabilities delivered by its core products. And at the opposite pole are the hardware and software costs associated with the upgrading and migration to Vista and Office 2007 as well as backward compatibility problems.