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Apple Polishing Mac OS X for Uncle Sam?

Posted by pudge on from the get-out-your-faux-tin-foil-hats dept.

polarfleece writes "A report on Macteens that the latest build of Panther contains strong evidence that it is being customized for U.S. Government applications. I, for one, can't wait to see a whole lot of Apples being toted by gummint men (and women). Of course, do we REALLY want those gummint agents having access to the same technology we Apple users enjoy so much? On the other hand, to quote story author Clark Mueller, 'it just might be one of the more intelligent steps taken towards U.S. national defense.'"

11 of 91 comments (clear)

  1. Well ain't that cute... BUT IT'S WRONG! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    I, for one, can't wait to see a whole lot of Apples being toted by gummint men (and women).

    Shouldn't that be: I, for one, welcome our new apple toting overlords!

  2. Nice move by bigman8 · · Score: 1, Funny

    As a government employee, I'd love to see more Macs around here. This Windows stuff gets old after a while.

    1. Re:Nice move by Daniel+Dvorkin · · Score: 4, Funny

      Well, when the staplers start randomly putting staples through people's hands, the photocopiers suck people in and spit them out in neatly collated slices, and the filing cabinets show an alarming tendency to decapitate the temps ... it might be time to start looking for alternative brands.

      --
      The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
    2. Re:Nice move by mkldev · · Score: 2, Funny
      If you take my stapler, I'll burn the place down.

      --
      120 character sigs suck. Make it 250.
  3. White Hats vs. Black Hats by Frightened_Turtle · · Score: 4, Funny

    Well, as anyone can tell you, the movies always show the good guys using Macs, and the bad guys using Windoze.

    So if government types start using Macs, that'll mean that the good guys are taking over! Woo! Hoo! (I love how the sun always shines in my own little reality...)

    --


    Whew! This water sure is cold!
  4. Bo$tich sucks! by SYFer · · Score: 5, Funny

    You obviously haven't used a Swingline 37860 Easy Touch. The Swinglines are so much more innovative than the Bostich and the designs are more elegant and forward-looking as well.

    Most Bo$tich users bash Swinglines without ever having really used them beyond the ubiquitous consumer "Tot 50" model they had as a kid. Believe me, pro-level Swinglines can "ream-crunch" just as well as the Bostich line!

    The old straw-man arguments over refill compatibility have long since been resolved and the myth that Swinglines cost more to buy and maintain was put to rest with the redesign of the famous 747 Business Stapler series.

    When I was forced to use a "Bo$t-bitch" for my job, it jammed constantly--and always at the wrong time. My Swingline has been operating jam-free for 19 straight days (and I AM a pro user).

    PS: Anyone hear about the possibility that SL might roll out a water-cooled electric at the Paris Office Machines Fair? That would blow the springs out of any current BS device!

    --
    "...all the labours of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness..." yada yada
    1. Re:Bo$tich sucks! by commodoresloat · · Score: 4, Funny

      I don't know what's with you Swingline fanatics. I've been sitting here at my freelance gig in front of a Swingline 37860 Easy Touch trying to staple 17 pages together for the past twenty minutes....

      ahh, forget it.

  5. Finally, tax payers money go in to good use! by Hackie_Chan · · Score: 5, Funny

    Have you guys read the EULA you have to agree when installing Mac OS X? It says that you can't use it in anyway in connection to flight controls or nuclear facilities, or any form of weapon of mass destruction. So much for putting Macs in to the coolest agencies...

    Seems to me that the reason why the Navy used Linux on their newly acquired Xserves were because they couldn't use Mac OS X without violating the contract!

    Oh, but maybe you think this maybe be the reason to all this?

    Or maybe it's because the government wants to become "hip" again? :)

    --

    What's so bad about being lazy? What if there was a war and nobody showed up?
  6. Apple in the Military by TrippTDF · · Score: 2, Funny

    iGrenade (shaped like everyone's favorite logo, in one of five fruity colors)

    iMine (out of the box and into the ground in 10 minutes)

    iTank (now with 40 GB hard drive to store 10,000 of your favorite songs while you drive around the desert and kill people)

  7. Obvious /. answer by AvantLegion · · Score: 2, Funny
    Of course, "everyone" is saying that the desicion to standarize on Win2k is wrong because it ties you to a single software vendor (Microsoft). Wouldn't the adoption of Apple tie you down to a single software *and* hardware vendor?

    But... but.... Apple, good!
    Microsoft, bad!

  8. Not true by macguiguru · · Score: 1, Funny

    There are NO Macs on NCC 1701(any letter).