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US Army Will Upgrade To Windows Vista
MojoKid writes "While many organizations are preparing for an upgrade to Windows 7, the US Army is upgrading to Windows Vista. The upgrade will include getting rid of all the Office 2003 programs and installing Office 2007 in its place, and is scheduled for a Dec. 31 completion date. Half the Army's computers (they have 744,000 desktop units) have Office 2007 so far, and 13 percent are on Vista, which was released in January 2007. Windows 7 is supposed to launch before year's end, so the Army will be fully on Vista sometime after Microsoft's next-generation OS is already launched."
Surely it must have occurred to at least a single person at the Pentagon to upgrade to Windows 7 and not to Vista?
Cool, am gonna keep an eye out for harddrives on ebay now, might just come with a free copy of vista installed!
The revolution will not be televised... but it will have a page on Wikipedia
Someone keep an eye out at -1 for the trolls, I think they're the only way we'll ever figure out who this reflects on more.
A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
Sono Pazzi Questi Americani.
If you always wait for the next release of that software, that car, or that style shoes you like you'll never end up with anything.
You need to draw a line somewhere. Windows Vista is a good move because it's been available for some time and they've had enough time to test it out with whatever software they might use. XP is getting more difficult with new machines, and if you want to stay on a Microsoft platform it's the way to go.
Windows 7 isn't so much different than Vista in terms of the operating system itself, and it's more similar to XP in interface than Windows 7.
I don't understand what the issue is here. I guess some people don't understand how IT works in organizations with more than a few hundred users.
- It's not the Macs I hate. It's Digg users. -
Vista just hit sp2
All sarcasm aside, I think this a perfect example of Military Intelligence! ;)
At the Air Force clinic I work at, all the workstations are XP, and Office 2007 was pushed on to every computer last January. 2003 worked great, 2007 drags ass. Everyone's been having problems with templates breaking, macros requiring endless confirmations, and just plain trying to find where the hell everything is in that damned ribbon. Not fun.
The only Vista computers I've seen were down at the Education and Training center for test-taking. I can't imagine why they replaced them, the test program we use could fit comfortably on a Windows 98 box (and I think that's what it was originally programmed for). Nevertheless, the powers that be have decided that a monochromatic visual basic simple-text-and-button testing application requires dual core Vista machines with 2 gigs of ram each.
Your tax dollars at work.
Windows 7 basically = vista + a heap of untested code and new features.
Vista has been out for 3 years now and is a "known quantity". SP2 is out soon, and many people live by the policy with MS software of "wait for SP2".
The military deciding to roll out Windows 7 now would be rather foolish. They need to migrate OFF XP if they want continued support in 2010, so really, its either vista or Linux, etc. Like it or not, Vista is the path of least resistance.
Besides, vista isn't as bad as the reputation anyway... in the 3 years I've run it, none of the problems have been insurmountable, and there are plenty of benefits over XP. No one cares that it may be 5% slower at foo task when you're running it on hardware that is 500% faster than the gear you replaced.
I run: Windows, OS X, Linux, FreeBSD. Just because you have a hammer, doesn't mean everything is a nail.
Somebody has to bailout Vista. I hope, Army is taking it with pride.
I know there are going to be dozens (if not hundreds) of vista jokes about this article but I still don't know why everyone hates vista so much.
This is going to sound really weird, and I am not making this up. I'm a Linux user (kubuntu at the moment, used to use slackware and I'm thinking of installing fedora) and I have an old mac that I use regularly too. I wasn't too fond of XP, and I'm not a huge fan of microsoft either because of their dirty business tactics. I got Vista (with sp1) cheap because I'm a uni student. The first thing I did before buying Vista was to make sure that all the parts I had were compatible, and luckily they were as I only just built the computer. Anyway, so I installed vista expecting there to be a million problems, I had a preconceived negative opinion of vista and I was actually quite surprised. Its stable, fast (on my computer, at least) and I'm quite enjoying using it.
However, I never used Vista before SP1 and I didn't have the driver problems. And I guess because I don't use XP that I wasn't missing any of XP's features.
Anyway, I guess my experience isn't the usual experience. Sure, I'm not going to make Vista my main machine (I love kubuntu and os x too much to do that :)) but I don't regret installing Vista.
This is just Obama's plan to drastically reduce the size of the military!! Would YOU stay if you had to work with Office 2007 AND Vista? Think about it.
I am not left-handed, either!
Exactly my thoughts.
Why in in the name of all that should be secure would the military be using windows of ANY Flavor.
This situation just cries out for SELinux http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selinux which at least has a chance of penetration resistance.
Even if we are talking about pay clerks and supply desk drones, why take this risk and this cost at this time when secure platforms are available for free?
Of course it we are talking strategic or combat systems then we have an severe dereliction of duty issue here, and someone needs a little time out in the brig.
(And, no, don't come around posting about how Windows can be hardened and made secure. That's the "Humvee as Combat Vehicle" argument all over again. Why does the Army need to lean every lesson twice!)
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
On mission-critical systems, they do. But Windows is good enough for probably 95% of what people in the Army do with computers -- spreadsheets, e-mail, presentations, documents.
Just like any other organization. Do you really care that the billing department in your doctor's office is using Word and Excel?
lol! I'm on Linux :P
If I was Trolling I'd go Anon :P
Oh! you're Anon!.. therefore troll away :P
Laters Sol "Have you found the secrets of the universe? Asked Zebade "I'm sure I left them here somewhere"
At least they have upgraded from RIS to WDS, that will make the upgrade to win 7 much easier. And they have gotten used to MS's new and interesting licensing schemes. Both have been a big hurdle for us. Those factors actually played a big role in us skipping Vista for our users.
The small organization that I work for as Tech director is still standardized at Office 2000, and that was a rather recent development as pleaded them to move up a bit because so much of my support time was used to maintain various office aps of a variety of versions. Office is a total nightmare. It has to be the most labor intensive application for techs ever devised and it's only used out of ignorance.
They also had hissy fits when I tried to get them to use Openoffice as a trial (which we really can't use because Mail Merge is so entrenched in the culture and OO just doesn't do it well, at least in version 2. And even if it does Mail Merge well now we can't go to OO now because of the hissy fits and people refusing to learn new stuff).
Office is a plague on the business culture in the U.S. We have people using it because "they've never seen anyone use anything else." We have people that think they can make super complex documents in Word that should be done in InDesign or Tex and then find that the layout totally blows up when they change 3 characters. We have people using Powerpoint to create 200 image slideshows. Microsoft has somehow managed to make everyone believe that Office is an all-in-one tool out of a load of garbage. It's amazing.
I can't imagine something that has hurt the computing world more that Microsoft Office (though as this is slashdot I am sure people will post them now).
The day is coming when I will have more people using Vista or 7 (64 bit to get more than 4GB of memory for other big tasks) and I have to update all the office apps and face question after question from people who can't read a help file or look up a question with Google. I don't envy these Air Force folks one tiny bit.
I guess that's a rant...
Yeah, like 7 isn't Vista rebranded with a new taskbar.
Even all drivers are compatible.
If only because it takes huge, brass balls to say on /. that you like Vista.
Anybody want my mod points?
I don't think "upgrade" means what they think it means.
Oooh! Ow! Ouch! Yikes! Run away! Run away!
If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
Because there in some quarters there is the cult-like mentality and most of the rest of people don't know any better. Most office drones with little skill and ambition never used any word processing program before Office and they don't have the will to learn anything.
Really... a huge amount of Office use is simply because of ignorance, sloth, and inertia (as well as Microsoft Zombies that happen to be working in the IT department and management). There are are hundreds of programs that do what Office in a better and cheaper way, it's just it get past the masses of users who don't know any better and who don't have the curiosity to try anything new, even if it eventually make their life easier.
Twice?
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
No CHEESE-EATING SURRENDER OS for OUR boys! They know the MILITARY MIGHT of VISTA is what the world needs! FREEDOM ISN'T FREE and VISTA IS FREEDOOM!
Join SAVE VISTA on Facebook! (Original blog post.) We want ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND PEOPLE to tell Microsoft to abandon their Windows 7 foolishness and go back to Vista! We have 89 so far. Only 99,911 to go!
Like Chrysler, like Hummer, like Edsel - "Vista" is a name that will be remembered as the greatest operating system in Microsoft's history.
Just Say "No" To Seven -
SAVE VISTA!
http://rocknerd.co.uk
if I was the one buying the Office software I would, why not use Open Office, it's free, support better and more file formats.
Amen to that. The company I work for stopped purchasing Office licenses, for this very reason. I also have to add that Spicebird, while still in beta, appears far more friendly than any Outlook client I've used - especially budget friendly. But then, of course, this is the US military we're talking about. In my lifetime, at least, they've never been known for their thriftiness.
The wise follow a damned path, for to know is to be forsaken.
All sarcasm aside, I think this a perfect example of Military Intelligence! ;)
The Russians use Linux, so they figured they'll be incompatible to avoid spying.
...this could be dangerous. Are you sure you wish to pull the trigger?
Sacred cows make the best burgers.
I should know. I work for a city government and we are getting ready to bring in Sharepoint. No business plan, no requirements documents like are needed for the small web apps I write. We're bringing Sharepoint in because the CIO is a sheep just like 95% of the other CIO's out there. If they see others doing it, they're going to follow suit. Meanwhile, due to budget constraints, our libraries will be open fewer hours. Yep, we've got our priorities in order.
The 1st step to cripple enemy networks is convince them that something unsecure is the most secure system of the planet. That is really a subtle plan, but surely will work.
The place I work at (Air Force) runs a different copy of Vista than you can actually buy. It has to be thoroughly tested and OK'd by the Air Force before they are even allowed to install it on any machines on the network.
The Army probably does the same. Rolling out Vista now is like they started rolling it out on release date. They couldn't have rolled it out any sooner if they wanted to. Same for Windows 7. The earliest they'll see it ok'd for use is probably two years from release. Why people make a big deal out of it? Probably because they're ignorant and want to make a fuss.
-SaNo
"In the process, generate a new IT re-education process within the government to train people on Linux and just be rid of Windows ..."
That is workable, just as it was when we switched from green-screen terminals to Windows in the USAF.
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
The Russians use Linux
You mean their brand new, very own OS, right?
Ubuntu and Open Office would save this country millions of dollars.
I saw Terminator 4 today and Skynet's displays were all running Vista.
The NT kernel has many great features that put it on a par with Unix in terms of security and functionality. As yet, no operating system using the NT kernel has actually used those features. Even UAC is a bizarre hack of a permissive userland, and doesn't use the kernel's security features. It's about as secure as Windows 98, thanks to Microsoft's butchery of the userland in the name of backwards compatibility.
Admit it. You post strawman arguments as AC so you get modded Insightful for refuting them, rather than Troll
and from personal experience, the military would shut down without powerpoint. you literally cannot go to war without powerpoint. what would you use during Command and Staff every day?
I would wager that 90%+ of US Army x86 computer systems are not in the field. They're sitting on purchasing agent's desks, human resources desks, etc. They use Windows because they need use Office and various industry-specific applications that are on Windows.
They likely have legacy apps that they've been using since before Linux existed. (Not the original DOS versions, of course - whatever the vendor's latest, which probably runs on Windows).
The US Army isn't any different than a Fortune 500 company...and 99.9% of those have Windows on the desktop (I'm assuming Apple is the exception ;-)
Advice: on VPS providers
Windows can be hardened and made secure. Just because you're too stupid to figure out how doesn't mean it can't be done. I am part of a shop that manages a 12,000 computer network, about 10% XP now, 70% Vista, the rest are various Windows server versions running under VMWare ESX. Not one *nix distro or flavor. We had a grand total of 4 malware infections last year, all because of 'privileged users' that we allowed to install software and who stupidly ran untrusted exes. Bottom line, computer security is about policy, configuration, and educating your users, not whether you run *nix or Windows.
The Russians use Linux
In Soviet Russia, kernel compiles you?
Anybody want my mod points?
You wanna know why? Well, the bailout money has to be spent somehow, right?
Let q be a radix > 1. I am in ur base-q, killing 10 d00ds.
Something like this will almost certainly be the result.
... also, I can kill you with my brain.
That's it folks, our armed forces are screwed!
Personally, my hatred of vista isn't because of hardware support. For the most part, MS is pretty good about providing support of all the crap you can possibly come up with to plug into your computer. When a new driver API is released, sure, the OEMs have to get off their ass and write new drivers.
my hatred of vista is based off the fact that there is a ton of stupid crap that is loaded on the OS that does nothing but look cool and slow your machine down. I don't want any fucking Aero-transparent window bullshit. I want an os that is like a formula 1 car: fast as hell and without a single non-essential part.
Between win 2k and win7(~8 years) the memory footprint of the OS has grown from ~100mb to ~500mb. What real utility do I get for all that? They still have not bought out winzip and winrar and integrated it in the OS, which is way more basic and useful than services to 'detect unused icons on my desktop'. Using ISO images is pretty much an accepted standard these days, and how much support is there for them in vista? But there is a list of idiotic services running as long as your arm on a fresh install of vista. (Fun game, what percentage of them do you actually fully understand what they are doing on/for your system? I'm a professional windows programmer, and I understand perhaps 75%, wtf?)
No, most people will probably tell you that vista seems to run just fine. MS has spent a lot of time turning their OS into something that is easy and pretty to use. I use the OS for a living. I don't have time to fuck around all day with pretty 'abc block' themes that make the desktop animate windows when they are closed.
I suspect that a lot of people hate vista for what it isn't as much as for what it is.
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
More than one senior Army Officer has said that one of the the US Army's biggest problem is that they spend too much time preparing to fight the previous war.
The US Army is a LOT different than any Fortune 500 company.
They can dictate to suppliers. They have a budget larger than the GDP of most countries.
This is why the idea of Microsoft "support dates" seem so absurd.
If they have 700K seats, they can pretty much get what they want from whomever they want.
They could push around Walmart if they wanted to. Nevermind Microsoft.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
This is a joke, right? No? Really? Wow.
"Military Intelligence", INDEEEEED!
On a side note, I wonder just how much Army Salad-Tossing Balmer had to do to get this deal rolling? Pawning off a warped, useless operating system to the gov? Wowsa! That guy's never going to get the tast of anus out of his mouth!
~Just as a thing fails if it lacks a kernel, so too it fails if it lacks a skin. ~ Rumi, Discourses
You seem to be forgetting that a software ecosystem does not consist only of the OS vendor, it also includes millions of developers who create software for that OS, either as contractors, or as independent contributions to the community. If those developers want to migrate, as they certainly seem to, then it is better for everyone, including the army, to do the same. Besides, good software is not written by monkeys in the basement of a factory building, but rather by talented people with enthusiasm and vision. Why would any talented person with enthusiasm and vision want to keep maintaining Windows XP for the army? It is better for the army to migrate, so that they can get a quality product built by quality software engineers. They certainly have the money to pay for that.
and is probably considered an economy booster. Dumbass's.
LoB
"Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
Seriously, there is an Onion article just waiting to happen here...
I also wonder if it's compatible with their drivers.
I like the idea of freedom, plus the cool little things that users come up with and then implement... one of the cool things is Guake-terminal. Push F12 and i have a drop down console: push F11 and it is 'full screen'. I use it a lot! Does Vista have anything like it? (or osx for that matter... asked a mac user once if it had a console and i got the 'WTF' look). Don't know, just asking. I guess i like the little 'user defined' additions into gnu/linux.
soylentnews.org Go there to enjoy the people!
I can't believe these Fing idiots think this is a good idea. Not to sound like a red eyed loon but do you think china is using vista, and if they are they are not paying to use it. I just so happen to have just finished watching the movie Valkyrie. It is about a group of Nazis that try to over through Hitler. They fail. I then turn to the internet and find this fine peace of information. Why the f would anyone running any secure IT deployment ever recommend running vista an office 07. F Guantanamo! What OS is the NSA running? Please tell me it is a Mac. MAcs have no viruses. this will keep my phone secure and my as400 in the clear.
a Fortune 500 company...and 99.8% of those have Windows on the desktop (I'm assuming Apple is the exception ;-)
Fixed your math for you. Yeah, I know: pedantic.
Yandelvayasna grldenwi stravenka
Comment removed based on user account deletion
You realize that Aero doesn't slow your machine down, right? The processing is offloaded to the GPU. Now, if you turn Aero off, then you might see a performance hit.
.dll that uses the GPU for rendering. You cannot 'turn off' Aero, because it is the rendering engine that is employed, regardless of the complexity of the effects employed by the desktop. You can turn off all the 3d effects to limit the math that the GPU has to crunch.
You are sort of correct. It offloads the desktop processing to a
Ultimately, not the point though. Why must I turn it off in the first place? The rant's theme was unneeded eye candy. While Aero is in theory a good thing (offloading UI math to a coprocessor), it just means that now the windows UI team will dream up more complex cpu/gpu cycle eating junk to offset the potential gain. Example: the blurry effect that transparent vista windows have is probably generated using pixel shaders.
And memory capacities and prices have decreased even faster.
Just because you have an abundance of something doesn't mean that you should waste it. Again, not really complaining about using the memory, but what I am getting for the memory that is being used.
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
Yeah, Mac seems to be doing it right these days. I wonder if that is just simply because they are working off a *nix codebase and it is just that much better, or because they have people working there that really look at the bottom line of 'the OS must run fast and be good at the basics'. Their jump to *nix was a smart move.
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
It's a way to keep trojan writers locked into an old technology :-)
Why can't they install Outlook 2007 or whatever but Open Office for the document creation, or at LEAST a side by side install on the machine?
I'd really like to see this start to happen, over 5 years you could eventually wean users from Office to Open Office, switch them to firefox, you're half way there to beginning the transition.
I can understand still sticking with Windows, to a point but Office seems crazy to me, the long term costs are incredible.
"Grandpa, when did the United States fail as a military super power?" "Well, Johnny, it all began in 2009..."
Even UAC is a bizarre hack of a permissive userland, and doesn't use the kernel's security features.
If you can get past the idea that UAC is only the UAC prompt you will see that UAC is indeed much more, and that UAC very much so use the kernel's security features.
Among other things, UAC manipulates the security token of the process, stripping away access rights. This is what is used for both the sandboxing of low integrity processes as well as the elevation prompt.
Normal processes launched by the user is stripped of admin rights by default. Only if the user is actually an admin and only when he tries to access something which requires those rights will the prompt appear. Confirming the UAC elevation prompt will grant the access rights to the process token.
Certain processes - such as Google Chrome and Internet Explorer - are launched in low integrity mode. The process token is stripped of even more rights, preventing it from writing to the registry or to the file system except for an isolated region.
The kernel also ensures that a lower integrity process cannot send messages (or otherwise access) a higher integrity process. So while applications you start on the desktop may send messages to eachother, the IE or Chrome instances cannot send similar messages to desktop apps, even if taken over by an attacker.
Essentially Vista/7 subdivides the user's account based on what he/she is doing. Surfing the internet: low integrity. Running normal, local applications: Normal integrity. Performing admin tasks: Elevated integrity. Installing new applications: Trusted installer integrity.
I don't know about you, but this is distinctly a kernel feature in my book. Specifics here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc138019.aspx
Reading slashdot one-liner: (irm http://rss.slashdot.org/Slashdot/slashdot).rdf.item | fl title,desc*
I glad US army is spending huge bag of money for such a crap like Vista and necessary massive hardware upgrade. There will be less money for real stuff and less wars around the globe. There will me more holes and more botnets using US army computers. There will be more leaked secrets to Russians and Chinese intelligence. Oh! There will be more military ships "hanging" for days.
Congratulation, guys! I love Microsoft! :)
You mean the one that got canceled?
I found it to be reliable - rarely a crash to be seen
You Microsoft apologists/shills are funnier than David Letterman. "Reliable" != "rarely crashes".
Do you want to allow the application Chinese hacking?
Press OK to continue...
I am the unwilling control for my Origin.
Reminds me of: "Doctor, it hurts when I do this"; "Then don't do that". Uptime is almost meaningless and shouldn't be used as a measure of stability. 1) If I leave my computer on and not touch it, chances are it will stay on for a long time. 2) I assume you browse, game, run Matlab, etc. often so if one such things do not work or break the game, you would have fixed the problem a long time ago. Say Starcraft causes a BSOD, so you find a hack to fix it. Now, every time you run Starcraft, it no longer causes a BSOD. 3) Instead, a better measure of stability is how everything works right after you install the OS, when you are doing things that have potential to cause the OS to crash, such as installing updates, installing software, etc.
The greatest Oxymoron of all times! (With an emphasis on MORON!) ;^)
Leave it to the US Military to ignore the problems the UK and France have had with Mickey$oft software installed on their military computers! Of course, the Pentagon has a history of overpriced and inappropriate procurement!
I've heard again and again, from this crowd and others, that you should stay away from a new Microsoft operating system until at least SP1. So what's the point in comparing the Army rollout to the release date of W7? Compare it to the release of W7-SP1.
Perhaps Military Intelligence isn't entirely an oxymoron.
Cleverly disguised as a responsible adult.
"While many organizations are preparing for an upgrade to Windows 7, the US Army is upgrading to Windows Vista." Al-Qaeda will provide funds.
According to TFA:
First-time Vista users will discover added support for data encryption, a new Windows Explorer, upgraded icons and navigation structure. There are also graphical replications of clock, calendar, weather and Outlook mail functions.
I work for a DoD contractor. I don't think the Army uses windows data encryption, and does not intend to do so. New icons? So what.
I do not see one good reason that justifies this huge expense.
"No one cares that it may be 5% slower at foo task when you're running it on hardware that is 500% faster than the gear you replaced."
Wouldn't that mean that the OS itself is now taking in excess of at least 80% of your system resources?
(for the humour impaired -- I'm making a literal math joke)
Just another "Cubible(sic) Joe" 2 17 3061
Windows can be hardened and made secure.
And a Humvee can be made into a combat vehicle. Just weld on enough armor, side plates, bottom plates, add mill-grade ballistic glass all around rebuild the drive train, re-engine it to carry the load.
You still take casualties. You've spent a fortune. You are still not safe.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
Uptime is a critical criteria for MISSION CRITICAL systems. This should be self explanatory. Starcraft? You are comparing a silly gaming system to a Department of Defense mission critical computing system?
Reality check, dude. You know nothing of which you speak, and you are polluting the airwaves with drivel.
I have an idea for you. Push the "OFF" button on the back of your computer. Start measuring your downtime. Let's see if it can stay down for a year, and remain stable. No one gives a damn about uptime, after all. Downtime is a much more important measurement of your frivolous non-producing system.
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
Finally we're leveling the playing field and won't look like international bullies!
Can Al Quada borrow our "Mission Accomplished" sign?
I hold very few opinions. I hold information based on observation and fact. If you wish to disagree, please use facts.
"Do you really care that the billing department in your doctor's office is using Word and Excel?"
Actually, yes, I do. Just like I care that a doctor is located in an ultra-modern building in an ostentatious neighborhood. I don't want to pay for the doctor's choice in decor, landscaping, and surroundings, any more than I want to pay for the doctor's poor choice in computer systems. I ONLY want to pay him to diagnose and treat my ailment. And, quite seriously, my doctor happens to be a Vietnamese man, who runs Linux on his machines, and he is located in a rather old building in an industrial area of a small town. I get what I pay for, instead of paying for his mansion, his mistress, his weekend holidays in Bangkok, etc etc.
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
The Wrong Way to Go
And the Army Way to Go!
``Tension, apprehension & dissension have begun!'' - Duffy Wyg&, in Alfred Bester's _The Demolished Man_
Even all drivers are compatible.
1. Not all.
2. Quite a few XP drivers worked in Vista, too. There's no need to change the driver API just for the sake of it for every new release, despite what the Linux kernel guys think.
Even UAC is a bizarre hack of a permissive userland, and doesn't use the kernel's security features.
UAC is basically identical to sudo. It's even implemented in a conceptually similar manner (at least as much as the fundamentally different security models allow).
It's about as secure as Windows 98, thanks to Microsoft's butchery of the userland in the name of backwards compatibility.
WTF are you on about. UAC is *at least* as secure as sudo, and various other systems for temporarily raising privilege levels.
ha ha ha .. .Kiddin right ?
The Army has tremendous resources at its disposal and a higher need for security than most. Wouldn't it have made sense to move to a BSD-based OS with Open Office? They'd have much more control over the feature-set, much higher security and no license issues. On 744,000 computers the licenses alone would have been 37 million assuming they only paid $50 per computer for Vista. Add the Office licenses on to that.
How does US Army know Windows Vista doesn't have wiretaps, back-doors, remote kill switches, etc without verifying its source code?
I'd like to buy homeland for our 10 million people. http://twitter.com/mahadiga
I'm the full time admin puke for my National Guard company. Until recently, my main machine was a P4 with 256MB of RAM. I have a new laptop now with XP and Office 2007 (separate rant), so I'm semi-modern.
But the program I use to put my soldiers in for pay after their proverbial one-weekend-a-month? DOS-based. The program for submitting requests for orders to send them to schools, etc.? It opens in a browser window--some kind of Oracle app server solution--but other than that, looks just like the DOS-based one.
But hell, it's the National Guard. We just traded in our muskets last year.
Plus, MS is big enough that if they say "jump" they can be pretty sure that they can formulate an appropriate response rather than just say, declare bankruptcy and go under or whatever.
I run: Windows, OS X, Linux, FreeBSD. Just because you have a hammer, doesn't mean everything is a nail.