BullS**T! is all I can say. Your IT should have gotten his money back from the university he went and given his diplomas back. Unfortunately in my 30+ years in the industry I have seem way too many of those.

The problem you potentially may encounter in a few when you want to install a XP system will be that there are no drivers for the hardware available. But right now I'd venture a guess that every system has hardware components installed where you can get drivers. Some of the Vista drivers are even backwards compatible.

Really, If your IT meant what I can read he is not worth the money you pat him as IT. He may be good in swinging a broom, that I don't know.