Tube Lines is easing migration to the Microsoft Vista operating system by focusing on application compatibility and offering Office 2007 to staff for £17.

The London Underground maintenance and upgrade company is moving 2,500 users to the latest Windows operating system next year and is heavily discounting the Microsoft operating system for staff to promote familiarisation at home.

It is also is using application compatibility testing software from supplier Camwood.

Manual testing can take up to three weeks per application, whereas automated testing can be carried out in around 15 minutes, said Tube Lines head of IT Adrian Davey.

"Everything is up and running nine months before we migrate users so we can get a huge assurance around testing," said Davey.

"We are working to gain control over our application estate and check application compatibility with Vista."

The firm is moving to Vista because of the collaboration benefits of Sharepoint and Office 2007, said Davey.

‘We have 70 sites across London and with large-scale engineering projects.

"Knowing that staff can work on the same version of a document wherever they are and any changes are incorporated to create a single source of truth is a big benefit," he said.