Windows Vista Out of British Schools

I do not understand and totally disagree on the British Education Communications and Technology Agency to strongly recommend against using Windows Vista and keeping the technology out of the classroom. They should at least have said to have a PC or two in the classroom at the very least to give students the option and availability to study and evaluate the latest operating system if total migration is out of the question.

Stephen Lucy who is the Agency’s executive director of strategic technologies made it clear that benefits remain unclear. Given his respectable position in the area of technology in the agency, he shouldn’t set himself up to look so pathetic and loser not being able to remain abreast and step ahead of the latest technologies by learning the pros and cons of it before making such claims; after all, his title should say something.

In an excerpt of the news:

The agency that governs educational technology in the United Kingdom has advised schools in the country to keep Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT)’s Windows Vista operating system and its Office 2007 software out of the classroom and administrative offices.
“Upgrading existing ICT systems to Microsoft Vista or Office 2007 is not recommended,” said the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency, also known as Becta, in a report issued this week.

Becta officials said a study the group commissioned found that upgrading school systems from Windows XP to Vista and Office 2007 would increase costs and create software compatibility problems while providing little benefit.

“Our advice is to be sure there is a strong business case for upgrading to these products as the costs are significant and the benefits remain unclear,” said Stephen Lucy, Becta’s executive director of strategic technologies, in a statement.

Becta also singled out for criticism Microsoft’s failure to support the Open Document Format — which is recognized by the International Organization for Standardization — in Office 2007. Instead, the software uses a new Microsoft format called Office Open XML.

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