By Eydie Cubarrubia

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration is considering alternatives to Microsoft software while other agencies are taking a wait-and-see approach, those interviewed said Wednesday.

The cost to upgrade to the Vista operating system may not be worthwhile. The FAA and the Department of Transportation have banned Microsoft upgrades for several months while studying the issue.

But observers cautioned that corporate customers such as government bureaus take time when deciding on software changes—and that it’s premature to sound the death knell on Microsoft’s federal business.

Still, the FAA will consider Google Apps and Linux as possible alternatives to Windows, which could be expensive.

“We’re looking at the business value for us,” said FAA spokesperson Tammy Jones. “To [support] Vista you have to have a certain amount of memory, faster processors, a new graphics card. Imagine how much all that would cost.”

Ms. Jones, however, stressed that the agency isn’t leaning heavily toward alternatives like Google and open source. “It’s more that there are some options that we’re looking at” to save money, she said.

Money isn’t the only concern, countered Microsoft federal client solutions specialist Patrick Svenburg. He said Microsoft offers more benefits than its rivals since “we’re always talking to customers about their concerns” and addressing them. Mr. Svenburg added that “continual innovation” keeps Microsoft products on par with competitors.

Moratorium Makes Sense

Meanwhile analysts agreed that Microsoft isn’t in danger of losing its lucrative United States government business, which the company says makes up 30 percent of all its North American enterprise sales.

“It really is time to get over the day-to-day death watch on Vista,” said Directions On Microsoft analyst Michael Cherry. He said a moratorium like the DOT’s makes sense for a large office that needs to be able to support all its computers.

“The investor base does not expect an immediate Vista uptick from the corporate sector, which includes the government,” said Pacific Growth Equities analyst Yum Kim. He said it takes an average of six months for any corporate customer to test out and implement upgrades.

While he agreed with other analysts, Robert Helm, another Directions On Microsoft analyst, admitted it makes sense for bureaus to check out Vista alternatives.

“Organizations should always be at least looking at the competition,” he said. Some offices might not need everyone to have full Office capabilities, and “a serious evaluation project can be a bargaining chip” to get a better deal from Microsoft, he said.

Still, the DOT and FAA don’t represent all government offices. “Other agencies are moving more aggressively, like the DOD [Department of Defense], to Vista because of Internet Protocol version 6,” said Cowen and Company analyst Walter Pritchard.