Vista Launch: Green Party warns of potential 'landfill nightmare' <br/>

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The Green Party has launched a scathing attack on the newest addition to Microsoft's operating system (OS) family by suggesting that Vista's arrival will result in older hardware being cast to one side, increasing landfill site volumes and damaging the environment.

Now that the long awaited OS has finally arrived it will potentially do more harm than good by 'forcing' users to upgrade their hardware to take advantage of some of the enhanced features, according to a statement posted on the eco-political party's site yesterday.

To avoid increasing energy consumption and further damaging an already frail environment, the party is urging users, on both the consumer and business side, to turn their attention away from Vista and towards free software.

"Vista requires more expensive and energy-hungry hardware, passing the cost on to consumers and the environment," said Derek Wall, the party's male principal speaker.

"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."

He added: "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."

The Green Party is also concerned that Vista's appetite for new hardware may counteract some of the recent efforts aimed at reducing the amount of wastage headed for landfill sites, such as the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive.

Siân Berry, Green Party female principal speaker, added: "There will be thousands of tonnes of dumped monitors, video cards and whole computers that are perfectly capable of running Vista - except for the fact they lack the paranoid lock down mechanisms Vista forces you to use. That's an offensive cost to the environment.

"Future archaeologists will be able to identify a 'Vista Upgrade Layer' when they go through our landfill sites."

In response to the issues raised by the Green Party's statement, Matt Lambert, director of Government Affairs at Microsoft UK, said: "We believe Windows Vista and Microsoft 2007 Office reflect Microsoft's deep commitment to the shared interests of customers, the technology industry, communities and governments worldwide.

"Environmental issues are important to us all and we believe we are making important steps towards reducing the environmental footprint of our products and the hardware on which they run. We would be keen to have the opportunity to meet Siân and other members of the Green party to address their concerns."

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