In a sign that Microsoft's latest operating system may be gaining traction among corporate users, company officials said Tuesday that Continental Airlines is in the midst of upgrading its computers to Windows Vista and will likely deploy between 7,000 and 10,000 copies of the software by year's end.

"It's a big rollout," said Shanen Boettcher, Microsoft's general manager for Windows product management, in an interview at the company's Tech Ed conference in Orlando, Fla.

A Continental technology official said in a statement that the airline believes new features found in Vista -- such as an improved internal search function -- will make its workers more efficient and productive.

The official also said that Windows Vista's automated deployment tools will allow the airline to save 17% in manpower costs as a result of the refresh.

Boettcher said Charter Communications, Cerner, and Indian outsourcer Tata Consultancy Services are among other businesses that are also upgrading their internal PCs to Windows Vista.

Microsoft will doubtless welcome the news.

Of late, there have been indications that businesses and governments may be slow to embrace Windows Vista, which launched amid much fanfare at the end of January.

About 30% of businesses that responded to a recent InformationWeek survey said they had no plans to upgrade to the operating system ever.

Meanwhile, some large government agencies -- including the Federal Aviation Administration, the Department of Transportation, and NASA have for the time being placed bans on Windows Vista until they can iron out concerns around application compatibility.

Boettcher said he's not worried. "I'm taking a glass-is-full view," he said, noting that businesses normally take a year or two to adopt a new operating system.

Also on Tuesday, Microsoft said Hewlett-Packard, Infosys Technologies, and TCS have joined a program -- Application Compatibility Factory -- under which companies can link up with third parties that specialize in making custom business apps compatible with Windows Vista.