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In another significant blow to the operating system's prestige, an Intel insider told the New York Times that the company's IT staff "just found no compelling case for adopting Vista."

An official Intel spokesman told the newspaper that Vista was being deployed in pockets of the company, but not across the board.

The revelation

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will come as a huge embarrassment to Microsoft, which was once so close to Intel that the pair we described as 'Wintel'.

Earlier this week, Microsoft laid out its Windows roadmap, sending a letter to its customers which explained that Windows 7 would arrive in 2010.

A Forrester Research report earlier this year said many businesses were unsure whether to upgrade to Vista or wait for Windows 7. It now appears that Intel has joined the ranks of the refuseniks, further undermining confidence in Vista at the very moment that Microsoft is attempting to force IT managers' hands by cutting off the supply of Windows XP.

Microsoft continues to insist that Vista sales are healthy.