Windows Vista seems to be better at fighting off virus infections then XP but the NSW Department of Education and Training (DET) will delay an upgrade unless licensing costs are reduced.

In the third part of this four-part interview, Tim Anderson, DET Information Services Director, told ZDNet Australia that Vista is easier to patch and has an "inherently stable core" when it comes to fighting virus infections.

Despite Vista's improved security, Anderson reveals that the DET is about to renegotiate its licensing agreement with Microsoft and that will determine if it migrates sooner rather than later.

"The biggest threat, if you look back at recent history, has come from virus infection ... we should have the ability to patch the operating system when necessary more quickly and it seems to have more inherently stable core from the point of view of virus threats.

"The enterprise agreement with Microsoft is up for renegotiation next year and this is a factor ... is XP sufficient for the next couple of years, or do we want to get onto a new platform?

"It is always a question of the costs and benefits," said Anderson.

Other parts of this interview can be found here:
Part 1: DET begins slow crawl to a new Vista
Part 2: DET mulls Vista savings, training
Part 3: Licence costs may delay DET Vista plans
Part 4: DET considers Linux on the desktop