US Army Signs $471,000,000 Deal for Microsoft Software

zero_offset writes "According to this article at Yahoo, Microsoft will provide software for 494,000 Army computers during the next six years. At roughly $950 per computer this clearly involves more than just the OS, although the article unfortunately doesn't provide details, and I was unable to find any references to this on the Microsoft website." The great things about this deal: the Army is going through a reseller, when clearly they have the purchasing power to buy direct; and most of the computers they purchase are normal consumer machines which will be purchased with Windows and Office already installed, so the Army will be paying twice for each machine.

Comments

Sounds..

[Lugor]

like the Army is paying for Microsoft's fine...

Justice Department: Bad Microsoft.. you must pay $500 million and promise to never do it again.

Defense Deparment: Here Microsoft.. $471 million for you...

Right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing? Or does it?

Re:Good News

[notque]

Before you all start griping, just remember... This is almost 1/2 a trillion dollars that won't be spent on "smart" bombs. Although I am not for the us military in general, I am all about it wasting it's money. Each $ wasted could be a life saved.

Was this a positive post for our government wasting money?

What are you thinking man? Don't end your post here, elaborate.

Why on earth can you concieve of this being a good thing? Because there will be fewer smart bombs purchased?

This just in, If we want bombs, we buy bombs.

We are in a republican controlled government. All that changes is the size of the debt.

Re:Cost analysis

[Davak]

You deserve the Funny mod, no doubt.

But a recent West Wing episode pops into my head.

West Winger staff member is complaining about the ridiculous amounts of money spent in the military for routine items. The military guy smashes an ashtray on his desk... and it breaks into only three pieces.

He goes on to explain that the ashtray costs $400 to research and to make; however, whenever you are in a sub, the ashtray won't break into millions of bits during combat action.

Anyway, I've looked at military spending differently since that episode...

Oh, and Microsoft sucks... blah, blah, blah...

Davak

Re:What software?

[HBI]

Wrong.

They are site licensing the server products, almost the entire product line. Sharepoint, SQL Server, etc etc etc ad nauseaum.

Exchange too.

The details aren't being disclosed because MS doesn't want their other customers getting pissed at the ball breaking that the Army gave them.

I happen to have met both the current and the next Army CIO. They are both _incredibly_ intelligent people. In particular LTG Cuviello (current) is pretty damn motivated and kicks some serious ass. These people are not going to sign a bad deal.

From a soldier's point of view.

[Bull999999]

I'm a soldier in Army Reserve and my unit is an administrative unit, which means that we make heavy use of our computers. The computers are mainly used for typing memos, making simple spreadsheets, and downloading new forms and publications off of the Internet. I do not see why a Linux or BSD machines running Open Office, Mozilla, and xPDF (or Reader for UNIX) cannot replace the current Windows machines. I have talked to soldiers that came from other reserve and active duty units and they also use their computers for similar purposes. Only software that we use that is not on Linux is FormFlow, which is one of the crapiest software I've used (yes, even worse than Windows ME). It is a simple software, so it shouldn't cost much to program something like that for non-Windows platform.

Re:A soldier's perspective

[Dun Malg]

If the army mandated a free operating system, they could modify the operating system to only provide the services that the army NEEDs

Modified by whom? Certified for DoD use by whom? As for "services ...the army needs", even the army can't tell you that, so they'd say "just make it do everything". Also, who's going to port all the lame crap software the army already has that runs under windows? What if some of it can't be ported?

The problems you described do not happen with a properly configured system.

People don't forget passwords or forget which printer is theirs in Linux? [scoff!]

I would guess even someone in B. CO 1/509th Abn could figure out.

Figure out isn't the problem. You say Linux can be made unbreakable. Nobody who's ever given anything to an 11B (infantryman) ever calls anything unbreakable. You can't depend upon something being robust to protect it, you have to have people available who can fix it when it breaks.

No offence intended.

None taken. Hooah.

SGT DunMalg 3/187th MI Bde 101st ABN Div (Air Assault) (1987-1993)

I'm an Army Sysadmin

[The Evil Couch]

I fully agree, most of my users have serious problems just operating windows, let alone doing work on it. If you threw Linux at them, they would just stop using the computer and go back to doing everything on paper.

another thing is that while the liscense costs for all the software that they're getting isn't horrible price-gouging, we don't fucking need it.

I'm in an officer school, the only function for having a database is for keeping track of student information. I already have an access database in place with an oracle database slowly replacing it. I don't need or want SQL and NONE of my users need it, either. we don't need to buy a shit load of liscenses at slightly above prices, what we need is to break that chunk of cash up and give it to the units so that their Sysadmins and IMOs can determine what the unit needs.

I'll give you a little story as an example of how trying to add too many pieces to the puzzle WILL fuck up a supply chain:
earlier this year, I needed 14 computers. I sat down and figured out the paperwork bullshit and forms for it (I'm actually Infantry and have zero training for admin stuff). I priced out how much it would cost for what we needed and found several retailers that we could go through. I sent that stuff up to higher and after about 2 months of that paperwork going through commitee and bueracracy, I got 14 computers that were totally different from what I requested, cost more, lacked software liscenses and hardware that my users needed for them to do their jobs.

anyone higher than brigade levels has no fucking clue what a battalion needs, and even then they don't really know.

this whole package for stuff we don't need irritates me.

So give them something that will kill them?

[Ungrounded Lightning]

You guys have to remember that there is a HUGE digital divide out there and getting soldiers with out much education comfortable with computers tends to be quicker and easier with Windows.

Therefore you want to simplify the training by standardizing on a system which not only holds the record for security vulnerabilities, but whose source has been delivered to the electronic warfare departments of most of our potential enemies but NOT to our own academic-community security specialists?

What do you do the next time there's a conflict and some new crop of blended-threat self-propagating worms (locusts?) suddenly takes out the US Army's entire office infrastructure?

==============

While you're at it, why are you advocating depending on the NON-standardized training the recruits got as civilians rather than teaching them "The Army Way"? (But if you MUST, why not use a Windows-like interface and workalike basic apps, ala Lindows or KDE + OpenOffice, for the basic stuff? They have to learn the army-specific apps anyhow. Meanwhile there's a good chance the next crop of high-school students will be learning on open source platforms rather than Windows, due to developments already discussed on Slashdot.)