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US Military Signs Modernization Deal With Microsoft
Dupple writes with news that Microsoft has signed an agreement with the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, and the Defense Information Systems Agency to modernize the software those organizations use. According to Microsoft, the deal will cover 75% of all Department of Defense personnel, and bring to them the latest versions of SharePoint, Office, and Windows. The deal awards Microsoft $617 million, which is after discounts to the software totaling in the tens of millions. Interestingly, DISA's senior procurement executive said, "[The agreement] recognizes the shift to mobility. Microsoft is committed to making sure that the technology within the agreement has a mobile-first focus, and we expect to begin to take advantage of Microsoft’s mobile offerings as part of our enterprise mobility ecosystem."
"a mobile-first focus, and we expect to begin to take advantage of Microsoftâ(TM)s mobile offerings as part of our enterprise mobility ecosystem."
NURSE!
Hope it's not windows 8 on the desktop / laptops.
...the US will only be able to make war if they can figure out the Metro interface.
Why is my 1034-55/12 Authorization for Nuclear Strike form all garbaged up now?
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
I work for the dept of defense, and this just makes me cringe. Mobility? That sounds great, except the only electronic devices allowed in cleared spaces are old-skool one-way pagers. And the Army has been looking into getting Android devices for troops. So much for that apparently. The latest OS? They better fucking not load Windows 8 on my desktop. I'd say I would do something drastic, but more likely I'll just cry myself to sleep. And more Sharepoint? We use Sharepoint at work, and everyone hates it. We're currently looking at finding a suitable replacement. I'm going to go get a drink.
Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
Wow... Having just received a demo Surface and ATIV S I'd strongly advise the Army / Airforce to consult a second opinion.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
I see you want to obliterate Wackistan with 10 drops before their operatives poison Washington. Can I help?
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
get them to load one of the 3rd party start menus for 8 if they load it.
But windows 8 in any big setting with no SP1 and windows 9 on the way soon (that may fix of the windows 8 issues) May end up in testing and by the time testing is done windows 8 may be as dead as ME was.
Welcome to the MS experience - Metro. Shoot to kill in style!
Instructions:
To aim and launch missile:
1) Swipe the screen to bring up the monitor section.
2) Monitor your target and doubletap on the suspect.
3) Swipe an "X" across each target you want to eliminate.
4) Doubletap to confirm.
If you get an error message: 16472112.13a41d1e.00123dq2.1337effd
then please contact customer service. Thank you for sharing your Microsoft Experience.
What this world is coming to - is for you and me to decide.
I work for the DoD. I predict this will end up costing 10x as much, take at least 5 years longer than proposed and in the end deliver less than 30% of the functionality actually required. I've seen it happen time and again with only a few of the more egregious failures actually becoming public.
Isn't the Navy under the "umbrella" of the Department o' Defense? Strangely, the linked article states that the Navy inked its own contract for $700 million (USA dollars) back in July of 2012.
:>)
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How is that encouraging any sort of good volume pricing or agreements if each division (Military Branch) is negotiating its own separate deal with Microsoft individually. If there's anyone that could screw with the military contracting officers, it's IBM and Microsoft.
Then again, this kind of volume license contract could be what they had to do in order to be able to keep their downgrade capability to keep XP running on their older personal computers.
The deal awards Microsoft $617 million, which is after discounts to the software totaling in the tens of millions.
So... between $20 and $90 million out of a $617 million deal is 3.2%-14%. The most powerful military force in the world, and that's the best discount they could get? For sharepoint?
Blue Screen of Death
The DoD already has access through contract to that software. The problem isn't access / purchase of the software, the limitation is the security paperwork needed to USE any of that software! ( https://acc.dau.mil/CommunityBrowser.aspx?id=22645 ) The security paperwork that is required can be long, very long, sometimes HUNDREDS of pages long, and take *YEARS* to get reviewed and approved! The DoD just keeps ADDING bureaucratic layers to this process every year as well! There's a point where the security paperwork just causes more harm than good. By the time you get the software solution engineered and approved, its already most of the way to being completely obsolete! You want to fix the software in the DoD? Fix the process that governs it! Streamline it, cut out the what has by now become multiple layers of unneeded CRAP that's only there because a spot failed at some point, and the solution they came up with simply involved just adding more layers to an already unruly behemoth!
TL;DR - Good luck M$! By the time you get Windows 8 approved, it'll be 4-8 years later.
We in Europe welcome this development.
and how well will that work?? will they be desktop mode most of the time??? What about non metro apps.
What about the army mac os severs?
windows for warships 8 now with touch screen guns.
IT"s never been easier to go to war sign up to day!!
Last time I came across a guy with ME was 09, and he was one of those users, who's computer nobody in their sane mind would willingly touch, so there's definitely a nitch for windows 8 user statuses here.
When youre dealing with a $600 million contract, I have a feeling the customer gets pretty much whatever they want. If they say "Hook us up with Windows 2000", I think MS will comply.
They are also aquiring Sharepoint. So any war will probably have a half life of around two years untill all the data is forgoten.
Rethinking email
At least here in the Department of Defense, we have so many applications that will have to be tested and certified on any new OS before they install across the board, Win9 and maybe Win10 will be out by that time.
We never had Vista, and we only switched from XP to Win7 last year.
I don't expect to see Win8 here... It's not the OS, it's the upgrade path for things that must run on the OS.
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
I am in the semiconductor business. Of course we know how heavily dependent the military is on this technology. But yet, often times when a piece of military hardware is built, there is a requirement for a second source. This is in case the first source should falter in delivery. It's a security issue based on that. Why is this any different with software? If the military were to commit themselves to free open source software, they would be more soundly in control of their own security and destiny. This Microsoft deal doesn't make sense at all.
Oh, yeah! Wise guy, huh? Woob woob woob woob! Nyuk! Nyuk!
Nope. Surface won't fly.
Rethinking email
As others have pointed out, the DOD moves at a glacial pace when it comes to approval and implementation of computer software. The DISA approval alone will take years. Back in '98-99 when I was the administrator of my command's network, the massive Dell computer acquisition contract was fast-tracked only because Y2K was staring everyone in the face and there was an absolute panic to get it implemented as soon as possible. We made it happen in time, but just barely. The government is simply incapable of doing anything in a timely manner. It's the reason I have no hair today.
The other thing to consider is the thousands of military applications used throughout every branch of the service, many of which are still legacy apps which hardly ever get updated and for which no documentation of any kind exists. Who gets to re-write and certify all those applications in anything like a timely manner?
I'll bet the military will spend a billion dollars before realizing nothing is ever going to work, except the BSOD.
What could possibly go wrong?
Just wondering.
Why is Snark Required?
I do some maintenance for an educational establishment, who have Sharepoint deployed internally for staff use, the last Sharepoint post there was two years ago, they do seem to find use for Moodle ...
AccountKiller
DOD and the pentagon still use IE 6 according to other slashdotters, and Navy still uses IE 7.
If I had a gun to my head I would pick Windows 8 if I could use a somewhat HTTP graphical application called a browser, since IE 6 really is not a browser because it is proprietary.
But man windows 8 is irritating.
http://saveie6.com/
Along with IE 8. Woo Hoo. So long XP and IE 7.
Well, there is $617M in pentagon cuts if cognress can't get its act together regarding the fiscal cliff.
a stupid decision and what rock have they been living under that they have no personal knowledge of Windows and its shortcomings?
Why would anyone with ANY windows experience think that it would be a good idea for our military to be using it?
We deserve the government we get because we are stupid and vote for idiots.
I think it's time to move to Canada!
As I disclaimer I'll say I like Microsoft, I develop mostly in VS. I even like Windows 8, God forbid. Don't hate me for it, it's an entirely different point than the one I am trying to make.
What I am really very curious about though is why Windows is even relevant to the DoD. Not because it can't be, but because I find it hard to believe the DoD doesn't have their own division developing and maintaining a light-weight, multi-purpose, very secure Linux distro. It would seem to make so much more sense. They certainly have the budget for it, and then some. Then again, military-wise, I am a layman and there are probably lots of considerations for them to choose a proprietary US third party like MS
Got all those nasty bugs ironed out? Like the divide by zero bug that locked up the USS Yorktown helm?
No, Not yet.
Have gnu, will travel.
Think about it, both sides stand to gain. Microsoft gains a lot by getting thinking/bugs sorted out. Don't think developers and PMs will ignore disgruntled soldiers and windows will learn a lot about robustness and usability. Army gets faster in developing software. Say what you will, microsoft makes hard to achieve features easily accessible. I stress accessible only.
Seriously, Sharepoint? Does anyone actually like SharePoint?
They should first modernize their thoughts. There are alternatives to Microsoft.
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
This is another nail in the coffin of the American Empire. Seriously... think about it.
"When youre dealing with a $600 million contract, I have a feeling the customer gets pretty much whatever they want."
As in "absolutly nothing"?
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/11/15/0119212/us-air-force-scraps-erp-project-after-1-billion-spent
For how many YEARS have we KNOWN that this sort of "big master plan to do everything, everywhere" is doomed? Isn't this a basic lesson of Agile/Extreme Programming that all CS students (and software project managers) should now know?
There's no doubt this MS mobility tie-in will not end in spectacular failure + the butt of many /. jokes to come. ;) I too tell my in-laws that their new "pirated Windows 8" AKA Mint 14 is just like Win7 only using fewer resources *wink nudge* Oh, and any older programs that don't run anymore are being blocked for viruses.
And your sly sarcasm has not gone unnoticed either
$
US Military + Microsoft = New meaning of "Blue Screen Of Death"
Do computer viruses count as biological weapons? If so, international treaties may be in jeopardy.
If you thought the US Defense Department was over budget and behind schedule before, just wait until full Microsoft integration is complete.
I hope the passwords to the nukes are more secure than Windows passwords.
etc, etc....
This is a hacked account, for which the owner can not be held responsible.
However Walmart iPads fly just fine. We have video proof...
"We know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. They get run over." - Aneurin Bevan
Now I know why Military Intelligence is an oxymoron. Are this contracts the counterpart of MS giving them backdoors to spy on foreign countries?
Since nobody cares a shit about windows mobile, they will be inflating the numbers of customers at the expense of the tax payer's money? sweet...
Does this mean Windows Phone will actually support VPN?
Anything that substantially weakens the armies of the United States of Aggression must be cause for great rejoicing in much of the world. I would almost start to like Microsoft.. almost..
As opposed to the post-internet operating systems like... Android and iOS? Really?
This video shows how the military deals with Microsoft products:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rz4EKv9HmsM
These will be the first Surfaces actually sold (as opposed to shipped and in warehouses).
Eventually, when the paperwork is signed off in a few years.
Borg:"Lawsuits are irrelevant. GPL3 is irrelevant. DRM is good. We understand security... Alert! MS are assimilating us!
Isn't it somewhat fitting that the military of the world's biggest corporatocracy, the United States, runs proprietary software of the world's biggest software corporation? They'll finally be just eating their own dog food. Of course, that would be a delightful and easy target to hack from all around the world.
cpghost at Cordula's Web.
Yeah! I haven't had to deal with a BSOD since... let me think... Oh yeah, it was yesterday.
On a Windows 7 laptop.
Due to a registry problem.
Just like it always is.
Since Windows 95.
this signature has been removed due to a DMCA takedown notice
...and installed LinuxMint on my 6 year old desktop that replaced a 3 year old machine with all the Microsoft/DoDParanoid crap, was the best day of my career. No windows, no Gates, I was free.....like Munich.
Really, the USAF developed their own super-secure distro. Why not use it? And save $617M? Or did some procurement officer get an XBox under their Christmas tree?