As a follow-up to the article I wrote last week, the Texas state Senate has approved a budget rider that prevents government agencies from using Windows Vista. If a state department still wants to implement Vista, they have to get approval from a state legislative budget board.
This is a major PR blow to Microsoft, who has tried to boost Vista’s image in the past year through extensive marketing and PR efforts of their own. Microsoft also has over 1,500 employees in Texas, and has expressed its concern over this legislation.
So what do you think? Is the state of Texas out of line in banning a specific piece of software in its agencies? Should decisions like this be left up to the IT professionals instead of a state legislative board?
Maybe Texas just has high hopes for Windows 7 and doesn’t want to deal with multiple upgrades…
