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U.S. Government Prepares For Vista

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the battening-down-the-hatches dept.

IO ERROR writes "Patrick Svenburg, program manager for Windows Client Solutions in Microsoft Federal, answered questions from government IT managers today about the upcoming Windows Vista release. Many of the questions were about BitLocker, Microsoft's new drive encryption technology, as well as other security questions, upgrading from Windows XP, IPv6 deployment and more. Svenburg is a member of the Windows Vista Launch Team and is leading early adoption efforts for Windows Vista within the Federal community, according to Government Computer News."

9 of 87 comments (clear)

  1. Early Adoption? by WannabeAnonymous · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Svenburg is a member of the Windows Vista Launch Team and is leading early adoption efforts for Windows Vista within the Federal community" The USG should adopt a policy of never being an early adopter. Recently-released software generally has too many bugs to be used safely.

  2. Vista Enterprise or Vista Ultimate- the OS of by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Child pornographers. I notice none of these people asked the obvious question about the destructive potential of BitLocker on the science of computer forensics.

    --
    SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
    1. Re: Vista Enterprise or Vista Ultimate- the OS of by SEMW · · Score: 4, Interesting

      >Vista Enterprise or Vista Ultimate- the OS of child pornographers. I notice none of these people asked the obvious question about the destructive potential of BitLocker on the science of computer forensics.

      Sorry, but that's a load of scaremongering bull. Encryption is not a new thing. Anyone who wants to has been able to encrypt files has been able to do so quickly, easily, with minimum effort, and for free for quite a long time now, using something like Truecypt. Having full drive encryption on enterprise versions of Windows is not going to change a thing; the people who are going to pay for more a more expensive version of Windows in order to use full drive encryption are not going to be those who would not have otherwise used encryption.

      >Windows Vista will be an enormous disruption in how people use their computers. They will have to learn the new environment and the new software that goes with it, and it will be some time before they get used to it and become comfortable with it. Well. If you're already planning on disrupting your computing experience that much in the vague hope that, "Maybe this time will be better," then you are obliged to try out Linux.

      Sorry, but please, please shut up and go away. There are certainly a large number of truly excellent arguments in favour of using Linux instead of Windows. But condescendingly informing people that they are somehow 'obliged' to try Linux instead of Windows, whilst ignoring or dismissing the real and existing - but emphatically not unsurmountable - barriers that exist to switching, is unhelpful, patronising, and arrogant.

      --
      What's purple and commutes? An Abelian grape.
  3. Tag please! by GFree · · Score: 4, Funny

    "early adoption efforts for Windows Vista within the Federal community"

    Hmm... OK, I'll allow the "itsatrap" just this once; it makes sense here.

  4. That's just great... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Now we have to wait until Windows Vista SP1 is out before the government can be fixed.

  5. Coming soon, cheap used computers! by LibertineR · · Score: 4, Interesting
    You just know that some fool is going to issue some kind of mandate that all Government computers maintain a Vista evaluation of 5 or better.

    That means that any computer running with less than 2G of RAM and without a 7900GTX GPU is going to be tossed out as obsolete.

    Bet on it! Cheap PCs are-a-comin.......

  6. Why Do They Care? by Watson+Ladd · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Why does the government, esp. the DoD even use windows in the first place? I see 3 kinds of users of goverment computers:
    1. The secretary level(basic Word, Excel,..). Something else would work fine.
    2. The Critical Service Level. Windows should be driven far away
    3. The Scientific User. They mostly use Linux anyway. The one exception is CAD.
    So only the CAD'ers might need Vista, but they probably don't. So why does the gov care? And did I make a mistake in the list?
    --
    Inventions have long since reached their limit, and I see no hope for further development.-- Frontinus, 1st cent. AD
  7. Oh, I can see it now...... by LibertineR · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Look lady, I know your ISA Client no longer works under Vista, but I am only a GS11. I am only allowed by law to turn off your transparencies, or tweak your ClearType settings. When I am promoted, they will let me defrag you, but only on Tuesdays unless it is raining, which means I can defrag only on Fridays. You need a GS13 to fix network shit, sorry."

  8. Re: Vista Enterprise or Vista Ultimate- the OS by 0racle · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Vista Enterprise or Vista Ultimate- the OS of Child pornographers. I notice none of these people asked the obvious question about the destructive potential of BitLocker on the science of computer forensics.
    Maybe there are people in the world that are not so stupid as to believe that only people doing illegal things encrypt their files.
    --
    "I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."