United States Army Deploying Windows Vista on 400,000 PC’s

The United States Military is currently in the process of upgrading  hundred of thousands of their PC’s to the latest version of Windows, Windows Vista.

About 13% or 440,000 computers are in the process of upgrading to Windows Vista. The switch from Windows XP includes desktop computers on classified and unclassified networks.

The migration to Windows Vista in happening while they are upgrading from Office 20030 to Office 2007. The migration to Office 2007 started before the migration to Windows Vista. Currently half the Army’s PC’s have Office 2007.

The Army has been testing Vista since its release in late 2006 and expects that users comfortable with XP and Office 2003 will need time to adjust to the new "look and feel" of the upgrades.

“During this process, we are offering several in-house training sessions, helpful quick-tip handouts, and free Army online training,"Sharon Reed, chief of IT at the Soldier Support Institute

Vista has not been a huge success for Microsoft like Windows XP was. Reviews found that the Operating System was buggy and that applications and drivers did not work.

Given the Army bureaucracy and testing requirements, it's unlikely it would move to Windows 7 anytime soon, despite it's being rated as a better OS in terms of usability. Nevertheless, in response to the Army migration, Microsoft said in an e-mailed statement Friday that the switch from Vista to Windows 7 would not present the same challenges as moving from XP to Vista.