AUSTIN — It could be “Hasta la vista, baby” to state agency purchases of Microsoft’s Windows Vista information technology under a proposed state budget provision.

The “rider” in the proposed two-year, $182.2 billion state budget — expected to be taken up Wednesday by the Texas Senate — would require state agencies to get written approval from the Legislative Budget Board before buying Vista technology related to an operating system, equipment or licenses.

Sen. Juan Hinojosa, D-McAllen, added the provision in committee and said it’s meant to block purchases of the technology, which has been targeted by criticism: “Don’t buy it, because it’s not worth it.”

Hinojosa, Senate Finance Committee vice chairman, said, “We have a lot of problems with the Vista program. It had a lot of bugs. It takes up a lot of memory. It’s not compatible with other equipment, and it’s supposed to be an upgrade from the XP program that is being used by state agencies, and it’s not.”

Microsoft spokesperson Tonya Klause* said in a statement, “Microsoft has long demonstrated a sustained commitment to Texas, which is why this development is disappointing. The company has more than 1,500* employees who work in Texas, and only last year we opened a new $500 million data center in San Antonio*.

Given our daily work with government agencies and longstanding technology partnership, we’re surprised that the Texas Senate Finance Committee adopted a rider which, in effect, singles out a specific corporation and product for unequal treatment. We hope as the budget continues to go through the process this language will be removed.”

Tech journalist Ed Bott, who specializes in Windows, said it’s not unusual for an information technology (IT) department to decide to hold off on buying a new technology, but he said it’s unusual for lawmakers to decree it: “I don’t think it makes any sense for any kind of legislative body to be making IT decisions. That’s what you hire your professional staff to do. That’s a level of micromanagement that is breathtaking to me.”

He said many of Vista’s problems have been solved by service packs, patches and more compatible hardware and software.

According to the Texas Department of Information Resources, 44 state agencies are using Vista products at varying levels, ranging from purchases of $122 to nearly $1.6 million. The agency’s David Duncan said any that had problems with Vista wouldn’t go to the department: “They’d go back to the vendor they bought it from.”

Higher education institutions would be exempt from Hinojosa’s rider.

its like saying we ban pants and t-shirts in a country