According to the San Antonio Express News, Senator Juan Hinojosa has attached a rider to the bill approving the State’s budget that will require government departments to get written approval before purchasing Vista technology related to an operating system, equipment or licenses.

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, not surprisingly, was disappointed enough to issue the following statement.

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.

The vote on the bill is expected to happen tomorrow.