Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Responds to DOT Ban on Vista, Office, IE
roscoetoon writes "From the blog of Mary Jo Foley: What's Microsoft's response to the DOT's charges? A corporate spokeswoman sent this statement, via e-mail: (caution: microbrain double-speak ahead) ... "We respect the customer's decision. As with any of our other Federal customers, it's our job to help DOT maximize the value of its Enterprise Agreement through the adoption of our technology. We are engaged with large, strategic customers across government at every level, and are working closely with them on these products through their participation in our Technical Adoption Programs.""
There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
That's pr speak for we are going to Congress and MAKE you buy it little man!
If you don't like what I write don't be a CS and mod it down. Refute it.
Yea I can't spell. So what is your point?
FTFA: "Windows Vista, Office 2007, and IE7 are widely recognized by independent analysts to offer dramatic improvements in security, management features, new collaboration capabilities and productivity enhancements. Ultimately we think we can help DOT understand how these products can help its enterprise organization.
Q: When did MS start using truly independent analysts? Would that part of the statement be necessary if they had no reputation for using paid shills?
FTFA: "As DOT goes through the natural process of exploring the new capabilities of these products we expect they will continue to embrace Windows and Office as the departmental standard of DOT.
Q: Doesn't she mean that "they will eventually be forced to once again drink the koolaid?"
FTFA: "Overall our government customers are excited about the technology as well as our product pipeline.
Q: Does anyone else remember that old Chinese curse? "May your life be exciting!"
FTFA: Just last week more than 500 Public Sector CIOs from across the country joined us for our annual US Public Sector CIO Summit.
- 500 guests for free food and drink and hopefully cheaper software != 500 new customers.
FTFA: The Summit offered these CIOs to see firsthand how Microsoft is working to be a strategic partner to government and educational institutions of every size."
- They obviously didn't spend much time on all the govt. agencies, schools, even countries that are not interested in using MS products anymore. A sales pitch is a sales pitch. I hope they got some good swag!
Support NYCountryLawyer RIAA vs People
We got their money because they're on a subscription. So we really dont care what they do. Random PR speak about how great our stuff is anyways.
The Doormat
If you're not outraged, then you're not paying attention.
Um, Mrs. Foley? Bingo, ma'am.
with apologies to Scott Adams
Well, I'm sick now.
is why we need daylight savings
.....fuck you, bitches. We've already spent your money, and you WILL give us more of it, or one day, when your GPOs start acting up, we will give you the phone number to Geico, and wish you luck....
Actually for anyone who's actually tried Vista and Office 2k7 it is clear that there are massive improvements in security, stability, and most importantly ease of use. I haven't shut down my Vista box since I installed it almost 2 months ago and it's still snappy even on a Pentium M with 1GB of RAM. What's more important is that the intuitive interface and time saving features such as searching and sorting significantly decrease the time spent mucking around with the OS and leave you to do your work. As such Vista would have a huge impact in increasing productivity not only through its stability but through the amount someone can get done with it relative to XP, its only real competition. Further, Office 2k7 has similar improvements which allow you to get more things done quicker. Instead of digging blindly through cascading menus the things you need most are there on the ribbon when you need them. The instant preview feature means less guesswork when applying formatting. There are scores of other usability improvements that in total allow me to save a significant amount of time. As a bonus it loads and runs much quicker than OO.o ever did on the same box in Ubuntu. Those are simple facts. Those people claiming Vista and Office 2k7 are somehow not ready for the big time are sadly mistaken and perhaps shouldn't be in charge of making decisions when their decisions will amount to their companies and governments missing the opportunity to dramatically increase their productivity.
*The most erroneous stories are those we think we know best - and therefore never scrutinize or question.*
We were just talking about Lice and their hosts...
Is dotBan the alternative to dotNet?
"independent analysts to offer dramatic improvements in security"
Allow or Deny?
That, I guess is the new 'Abort, Retry or Fail?'.
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
...Cue the stealth busted chair bomber with payload ready for release over 400 7th Street, S.W.Washington, D.C.
Many branches of the US Federal Government have former Microsoft employees in strategic places and vice versa, so it's one way that Microsoft keeps close watch on their bigger US Federal Government accounts (like the Navy).
That being said, there are some US Federal Government accounts that are tightly integrated with Microsoft products, and there are others who may not even use Microsoft products obviously. Workstations and servers are often upgraded in groups, but not all at once. For some US Federal Government accounts, they'll still upgrade to Windows Vista in a year or two (or maybe three) from now when all of their workstations meet the minimum requirements for Windows Vista, but many of them have group policy enabled to turn off the "Aeroglass" interface.
Just because you get modded "insightful" on Slashdot doesn't mean you actually are in real life.
We are Microsoft. Lower your Firewalls and surrender your systems. We will add your cultural and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your IT departments will adapt to service us.
Resistance is futile.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
"Yes, I have a response: 'Uhhh, what?' "
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
Heck, even Intel, whom Microsoft laudes as a partner in embracing Vista has publicly stated that they, as a corporation, will not even install Vista on their computers until after SP1 is released... So now you have a technology partner publicly stating they wont be so quick to upgrade either... http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/03/07/intel_wati ng_to_go_vista/
The DOT, being responsible for entities like the FAA & other departments that oversee venues for terrorist attack, realized that Microsoft was selling them the same thing they were selling everyone else, perhaps inadvertantly terrorists.
Microsoft's trying to make a living & Government contracts don't pay what they used to with all the "healthy competition" that's out there.
Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
...whatcha gonna do with your free laptop? Want a link to the latest Ubuntu .ISO?
Federal agencies are typically slow to pick up on new versions of Office and Windows. Currently, the US Air Force has a moratorium on IE7 and has since it came out citing security issues. Neither Vista nor Office 2k7 are approved for use on Air Force networks...yet. They have to be certified to be safe and secure to use on unclassified and classified networks. This is normal. Eventually, and unfortunately in my opinion, the moratorium will be lifted and approval will be given. It's more of a question of when, rather than if.
Remember the reason the DOT doesn't want to upgrade is because it needs ie6 compatibility for its websites. So because ie7 is better towards standards they won't use it. And the reasons that Office and Vista are lumped in there is because they upgrade to ie7. Frankly I wish the websites were better so the DOT had the option of upgrading to a better version of windows, or even the possibility of changing to another operating system.
I have a $100 that says someone is going to call you a shill before this story drops out of sight.
In other words, DOT is already paying for Vista, even if they're not using it. Remember how Microsoft enterprise-level "software assurance" works. You pay by the year, upgrade or not.
In Soviet Russia Enterprise Agreement maximize the value of tap on you.
8:44 A.M. A full scale corporate invasion by foreign applications begins. Total surprise. Almost total success. A gang of PR suits become the last line of defense.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
...I had to be certain I was not reading the subject of the previous Slashdot story, "The Coevolution of Lice & Their Hosts."
Those who can, do. Those who can't, write technology blogs.
> You forgot "Copywrite 2007, Microsoft Corporation Inc. All rights reserved"
... All the variants of Linux seem very promising at first, but they just keep coming up with ways to disappoint. Someday I hope Linux will become a stable enough system to use on an everyday basis. Until then I'll be more than happy to use XP or Vista."
I started to wonder about that, and checked 7of7's journal. All I found was this:
"Well, I've have the newest flight of Dapper for a while now. This time I'm making a concerted effort to try and use it for an extended period of time. They recommend that it not be used as a primary desktop and I can see why. There are some serious problems.
http://slashdot.org/~7of7/journal/
In isolation could be a fair comment, but given the unequivocal praise for Vista, I smell the polymers of thick green Made-in-Seattle Astroturf.
Just use WGA to break every government owned copy of XP. Then if they don't upgrade to Vista sue them for piracy, and maybe get some DOT officials shipped to Siberia.
"The Federal budget probably goes through our software. Hell, the DoT's bank probably uses our software, as do all of the archiving services that track DoT's backup tapes, the DoT's leased-line providers, the DoT's managers' home computers, the DoT's managers' children's school computers... If the DoT knows what's good for it, it will obey without question every instruction we give them on what to buy and when to buy it. Money is to be in used notes, have non-consecutive serial numbers and be deposited in the large skip marked "blackmail payments" parked on the front lawn."
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
3.11 was better than 3.1, Win95 was better than Win3.1 and so on....But was Windoze anytime the best in security protection. I dont think so.
How can they say things like this with a straight face? Saying they "respect the customer's decision" then following it up by saying it's their job to foist Windows on them regardless? Where's the respect in that? Whatever else this statement may mean, it disrespects the intelligence of any reader.
Carrier anomaly detected...
Don't think you are safe, know you are. There is no Micro$oft. There is only The One (tm) free operating system. Once you have learned enough, you won't have to dodge viruses and software bugs anymore. Inside the Wintel, they are everywhere, and you are nowhere.
"The Summit offered these CIOs to see firsthand how Microsoft is working to be a strategic partner to government and educational institutions of every size" "Offered these CIOs to see firsthand..."? I thought the great advantage of marketing droids was that they could communicate eloquently.
Are we actively trying to appear childish now?
The place for commentary is down here with us unwashed masses, in the comments, where it can be moderated and replied to properly. It's bad enough that the editors do it, can we at least avoid submitors doing it please?
It's official. Most of you are morons.
it means that they'll have their salesmen round taking the high mucky-mucks out on all expenses paid trips to Vista seminars in exotic places... and if that doesn't work, they'll send out the boys with the key to the slush-fund chest to make sure Linux doesn't "win"... they'd pay the DOT to prevent that...
Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
Ok, I can understand Vista and Office, BUT FOR GOD'S SAKE PEOPLE, PLEASE UPGRADE TO IE7.
The day I can use an alpha png as a CSS background without fear of EPIC BREAKAGE is the day I can breath easy.
Tag: weaselwords ?
Get your own free personal location tracker
has to be that this is a Microsoft price reducing move but I'd just love to see MS have the balls for once to call their bluff so we can see what happens.
DoT: We're looking at Linux
MS: Go on then!
DoT: Huh?......
MS: Go on then, piss off if you think your up to it.
DoT: ?!?!?!
Hmmmmmm..... Deep fried and look like Squirrel.
"We respect the customer's decision. As with any of our other Federal customers, it's our job to help DOT maximize the value of its Enterprise Agreement through the adoption of our technology. We are engaged with large, strategic customers across government at every level, and are working closely with them on these products through their participation in our Technical Adoption Programs." In HONEST: Many of our senior people have violently expectorated their coffee. A bunch of us wrote this ghastly response, but actually thought it was good, which shows you how bad things are around here. So the decision has been made to send our most attractive people on-site with special expense accounts and at least one carry-on valise full of lubricant.
"Windows Vista, Office 2007, and IE7 are widely recognized by independent analysts to offer dramatic improvements in security, management features, new collaboration capabilities and productivity enhancements. Ultimately we think we can help DOT understand how these products can help its enterprise organization. In HONEST: Our account escorts will sleep with the customer's decision-makers for the rest of the fiscal year if necessary.
"As DOT goes through the natural process of exploring the new capabilities of these products we expect they will continue to embrace Windows and Office as the departmental standard of DOT. In HONEST: In exchange for obtaining long-term lock-in, our account escorts may accept a marriage proposal for up to three years. We would prefer co-habitation, however. In any case, more lubricant will be shipped with service-pack CDs.
"Overall our government customers are excited about the technology as well as our product pipeline. Just last week more than 500 Public Sector CIOs from across the country joined us for our annual US Public Sector CIO Summit. The Summit offered these CIOs to see firsthand how Microsoft is working to be a strategic partner to government and educational institutions of every size." In HONEST: We're going to continue to innovate and create great software. Failing that, where would you like to have dinner tonight, ducky?
Rich And Stupid is not so bad as Working For Rich And Stupid.
"We respect the customer's decision.
Bullshit! When we tried to switch from Windows to Linux MS lobbied Congress to prevent us from switching. We received a nasty-gram from Congress to cease and desist.
As with any of our other Federal customers, it's our job to help DOT maximize the value of its Enterprise Agreement through the adoption of our technology.
Read: If you won't buy our products, we'll grease the palms of Congress and make them force you to buy our products.
We are engaged with large, strategic customers across government at every level, and are working closely with them on these products through their participation in our Technical Adoption Programs.
Read: We have our heads so far up Congress's ass all we have to do is sneeze and our paid for representatives catch a cold.
Am I bitter? Yes, I hate to see where Americans tax dollars go and how little they get from the waste I see on a daily basis.
I work for an agency under DoD. Vista, OFfice 2007 and IE7 are also verboten here.
Government geels in decisiomaking capacity don't get into beta programs and it's easier to ban a software package than learn how to support it.
we see things not as as they are, but as we are.
-- anais nin
that's PR speak for:
:P
all your base are belong to us. you are on the way to destruction. you have no chance to survive, make your time.
Still no one picked off the misspelling of Copyright? It is a right not a 'write' as in write off.
You can bet it is not going to crow, "All your bases are belong to us". It will make such innocuous statements. If it is a private company it will offer deep discounts, (like 75$ for 1150$ list price product offered to Australian students). In the public sector, it will go over the head and talk to the White House, Congress and Senate (both parties) and make them buy it at list price or have him replaced soon.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
MS knows the DOT will have to adopt Vista sooner or later, hence their diplomatic response while all Redmond is laughing hysterically. In any case, DOTs tempered, go-slow, approach is sensible, and no different than any other large organization. Test it, but don't even think about putting it on the production network. Yet.
FTA... "In fact, there are a number of reasons for not upgrading, Mintz said, including the hardware/software/services costs of upgrading; backward compatibility problems with Office 2007, specifically Word (I'm guessing he's referring to the new XML file formats here, but not sure); internal funding limitations; and a pending DOT headquarters move..."
Aka: Give us Vista cheaper... havent we seen this before?
20th century Marxism is not progress...
(caution: microbrain double-speak ahead)
More like slashdot double-standards. MS came out and admitted that they're working on getting their product spread by addressing the issues a large customers has with the product. What business doesn't do this? Why is it such a big deal when MS does it? Why don't we see articles like this when a Linux vendor does the same thing. Oh, that's right, it's because Linux doesn't get adopted on this level anywhere. Sorry.
We have a total ban on those same products here. And we are a fortune 10 company.
As for home use, I looked at the upgrade path. I ran the checkout program provided by Microsoft. It tells me: Both printers not supported, both scanners not supported, my external hard drive (160GB) not supported, and elements of my LAN not supported.
In follow up, I have tracked down that for 1 scanner and both printers, the vender (HP) has ALREADY declared they will NOT be releasing updated drivers. The other scanner, I have to upgrade the software for (Nikon). The other items I have no word on yet.
Also, I have a Laptop with 2GB of memory and that isn't enough to run Vista well? WTF? And looking at the new feature list from MS. I don't want them wasting all that memory on the file search process. Nor do I want the DRM, so what exactly is Vista giving me besides grief?
MS now has a Halliburton US2007FedSpeak translator on the payroll. What MS is really saying clearly in US-FedSpeak is "we have more purchased congressional representatives that will tell you different, punish you for speaking in English rather then meaningless US-FedSpeak, and send a few of your friends/family to a clandestine location in eastern EU."
I am surprised so few folks understand the US-FedSpeak (Intel-Camo) that has been in use for over four years now. The Clinton era used US-FedSpeak (Prick-Camo). The Reagan era used US-FedSpeak (Alzhe-Camo). USA political-truth "Image Elects Ethical Defects (IED)." Maybe four years from now we will all know the new US-FedSpeak (Crone-Camo, probably).
Okay, you're right sick/dark humor is not always funny [even when appropriate?], because some truth is always needed for any good joke routine.
Unaccountable leaders are masters, and unrepresented people are slaves. How do US and EU fare?
IDDQD? Anyone?
Regardless of any performance or security issues, Microsoft never bothered to give developers time or the tools to port some crucial Mobile device utilities. There's no published way to migrate synchronization service providers (as of a week ago). So, anyone syncing custom data through ActiveSync between a mobile device and a PC has no guarantee their old code will work or how to fix it if it doesn't. Of course, Microsoft could care less because they don't get the irate phone calls from customers when our applications break on Vista boxes.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
*zoom in on UAC terminal on Mars dealing with UAC...*
"Running ArchiveSerach.exe. Cancel or Allow?"
*click 'Allow'*
"Opening file TPSReports.doc. Cancel or Allow?"
*click 'Allow'*
"Attempting to access database. Cancel or Allow?"
*click 'Allow'*
"Opening site "calendar://dutyroster". Cancel or Allow?"
*click 'Allow'*
"Sending a mail message "Subject: Conflict in schedule". Cancel or Allow?"
*click 'Allow'*
"Opening a portal to hell. Cancel or Allow?"
remember this one? ;)
Java can be deployed via Active Directory group policies. We deploy the JRE to desktops this way. As for servers we only have two or three that use it, so it wasn't that much of a headache to o those by hand.
Since java comes as an msi installer, and Sun provides documentation on how to customize the msi to your liking, I would consider managing java via group policies.
We deploy the same version of JRE to all of our desktops, but with other software like Office we have different versions for different groups of computers.
I don't always use unix-like operating systems; but when I do, I prefer FreeBSD.
If any of you have seen Microsoft representatives, you'd know that it doesn't matter what they say. You'll buy at least something from them when they show up. A picture should have been sent with that email. And posted with each reprint of the quote.
Retired from software... maybe. Sort of.