ZD Net ran a story on the UK Green Party position in opposition to Windows Vista.

Vista requires more expensive and energy-hungry hardware, passing the cost on to consumers and the environment," Wall said. "This will also further exclude the poor from the latest technology, and impose burdensome costs on small and medium businesses who will be forced to enter another expensive upgrade cycle."

Rather than opting for another proprietary OS, the Green Party argues that businesses should look into free software alternatives — such as Linux — as they don't require high-specification hardware. "Free software can run on existing hardware, reduces licensing costs for small businesses and affords important freedoms to consumers. The UK government should capitalise on this opportunity to promote the use of free software in public bodies," added Wall.

The Greens are right, Vista is bad for the environment and bad for businesses. A desktop computer that is running Windows XP could be running GNU/Linux extending the lifetime of the hardware significantly and keeping it out of a landfill. The GNU/Linux system would be less susceptible to viruses and have no added licensing costs.