Bad news for Microsoft: The British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta) has published its final report on Windows Vista and Office 2007. Its findings? Largely the same as those released in the agency's interim report--Becta recommends that U.K. schools steer clear of both Vista and Office 2007. According to the report, only 22 percent of PCs in U.K. schools are currently capable of running Vista "effectively." Given the estimated cost of upgrading every school PC in Wales and England to Vista (some £175 million), Becta has determined that the cost outweighs the possible benefits. On the Office tip, Becta expresses concern about the suite's Office Open XML file format and its lack of support in older Microsoft products, not to mention the larger tech community. "The interoperability that Microsoft makes available in Office 2007 for competitor products is less than it makes available for its own family of products," Becta notes.

For more on the report:
- see this Ars Technica article