[ISN] NIST Likely To Lift Windows Vista Ban If Microsoft's New OS Passes Muster

From: InfoSec News (alerts@private)
Date: Thu Mar 15 2007 - 22:22:15 PST


http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=198001185

By Paul McDougall
InformationWeek
March 15, 2007

The chief information officer at the National Institute of Standards and 
Technology said his agency will likely lift a moratorium on deployments 
of Microsoft's new Windows Vista operating system within the agency if 
the technology passes a rigorous set of security and compatibility 
tests.

NIST CIO Simon Szykman said the agency is likely to begin full testing 
of Windows Vista in a month or two after it finishes a project to 
encrypt all of its laptop computers in order to comply with new 
government security policies. "Testing of Windows Vista will be our 
number two priority after that," said Szykman.

Szykman said tech staffers at the agency, which is tasked with 
recommending computer technology and policies to other government 
agencies, will test Windows Vista to ensure the OS is secure and fully 
interoperable with other systems and applications used by NIST. If it 
passes, "there is no reason to believe we would not deploy Windows 
Vista," said Szykman in a telephone interview Wednesday.

Until then, however, NIST will continue to forbid its 4,700 computer 
users to install Windows Vista on agency desktops or laptops or on home 
computers that they intend to connect to the NIST network. "For the time 
being, Vista is not allowed," said Szykman.

NIST has scheduled a full staff meeting on April 10 in Gaithersburg, Md, 
in part to educate employees about the Windows Vista embargo.

Unlike colleagues at some other federal agencies, however, Szykman said 
he is not seriously considering booting Windows from his computing 
environment in favor of alternate software. "The majority of our users 
are on Microsoft technology and I expect it will remain that way," said 
Szykman.

Earlier this month, Federal Aviation Administration CIO Dave Bowen told 
InformationWeek that he is taking a long look at a combination of Linux 
desktops and Google's online Google Apps as possible alternatives to 
upgrading his agency's computers to Windows Vista, Internet Explorer 7 
and Microsoft Office 2007.


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