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Air Force Orders Up A Custom Windows Monoculture

Posted by timothy on from the custom-7-percent-solution dept.

Soulfader writes "It seems that the Air Force has not learned from the Navy's folly in single-source mammoth contracts and their attendant problems, and is now working on something similar with Dell and Microsoft. Particularly interesting is the article's assertion that the Air Force is 'fed up' with Microsoft OS problems--but not enough to switch to something else. Instead, they're going to be getting a custom 'solution' of Windows products specially configured for their use. Is this the ever-hoped-for 'good' version of Windows, or more along the line of the sucks-in-new-and-interesting-ways version of Highlander II?"

4 of 541 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Eww gross! by 0racle · · Score: 0, Troll

    Now are we talking Mono the disease, or Mono the .Net environment, because i don't see Mono the .Net environment growing much.

    --
    "I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
  2. Like the Yorktown by mr100percent · · Score: 1, Troll
    Well, the Navy built their own Smart Ship running windows NT, which crashed due to a divide-by-zero error and was dead in the water for almost 3 hours. They had to tow it back to the base. I hope the Air force takes this into account, as their stuff doesn't drift.

  3. Re:What's wrong with OS X? by 0racle · · Score: 0, Troll

    Exactly how does windows not play nicely in a heterogeneous environment?

    --
    "I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
  4. Mission critical is likely custom code. by Mycroft_VIII · · Score: 0, Troll

    However I can just see it if they used it for a fighter crafts o.s.

    After a fighter goese down durring testing.
    Kernel: "What the heck happened up there"
    Test Pilot: "well my plane crashed then it hit the ground"
    Kernal: "don't you mean it crashed WHEN it hit the ground, and what kinda report is that test pilot."
    Test Pilot: "No sir, it crashed first, all my controlls turned blue, the HUD flashed the name of some general named Fault and gave his service number, though not like any service number I've ever seen. Good thing the ejection seat has a manual backup, the automatic one just caused an hourglass symboll on the digital airspeed indicator and it said somthing about a cd. That's when I pulled the manual releas lever and got out."

    Mycroft

    --
    https://signup.leagueoflegends.com/?ref=4c3ed6600b6ea