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Microsoft Is Working On a Cloud Operating System For the US Government
SmartAboutThings writes "It seems that Microsoft is relying even more on the opportunities provided by the cloud technology. The Redmond behemoth is preparing to come up with a cloud operating system that is specially meant for government purposes. Government agencies already use two of Microsoft's basic cloud products: Windows Azure and Windows Server. But now it seems that Microsoft is working on a modified version of its somewhat new Cloud OS that could bear the name 'Fairfax.' Compared to Windows Azure, the 'Fairfax' cloud operating system would provide enhanced security, relying on physical servers on site at government locations. Given that CEO Steve Ballmer is striving to make Microsoft much more than a powerful software giant, such a project makes sense, especially because it would help in their lobby activities."
you mean like unix was a "cloud" OS and you could connect via dumb terminals to it?
every good joke has a punchline.
... and when the single, centralized mega-host of *every* government system gets compromised...?
Microsoft has become quite good at being last-to-market.
It used to be after one intensive at the Hubbard Guidance Center I'd get great wins for the rest of the week. Then it started to last only a couple of days. Just a few months ago I found that I'd have to do several intensives before any noticeable case gain. Now, it appears that Hubbard technology is not working at all -- auditing just seems like a waste of time.
I'm not sure if this is because of David Miscavige squirreling the Tech, as some say he is, or if other suppressive factors are at play. It would be best if LRH could return from his out-of-body research into the Upper Levels of OT to put us all back on Source.
"Given the fact that CEO Steve Ballmer is striving to make Microsoft much more than a powerful software giant, such a project makes sense"
So a cloud OS is not software?
Not only Microsoft collaborates with security agencies, any operating system has to be monitored by security agencies such countries.
You can find basic support possible to protect your privacy (the user) with possible toys and useful free tools.
But keep in mind that most online services will help close possibly under pressure from governments.
Greetings. )
http://amigodlosdebiles.wix.com/noun#!nethatters---netprotectors/cnjk
It will connect to 365 so that everyone can do power points and spreadsheets. Outlook. com for mail, and not much more.
I'm sorry, I'm to tired to be witty at the moment so this message will have to do.
Replace Windows by xBSD and it would make total sense.
But here it looks like the US govt. is really showing desperate signs of masochism.
seems we have now gone full circle, big servers in the basement and dump terminals is kinda where it all started
Lets hope this spurs some innovation into a big problem set. On the content side, I know there is a problem with soo many databases and so many branches not being able to communicate with each other, maybe this will help. On the application side, it will be good to have a system where the government deems as "secure" and "allowed" to run, but just how much control will MS design into this thing?
The troubling thing is the possible proprieties that could come with this. Does Microsoft control this cloud and what is available onto it? Will there be a open API for their servers to allow multiple clouds with multiple vendors?
Lets hope the government states some of these requirements upfront and the design of it allows for future growth into multiple vendors.
If it were possible to have laptops or computers that could connect to the network, but not save any of the data to the hard drive (or portable data devices) on those laptops or computers for any reason.
Maybe something like an encrypted virtual session or something.
And then make it so that the drives in the server won't function unless attached to the specific hardware in the room. Maybe even hard encode them with some data destruction code in the event that someone tries to steal them.
And put tamper-resistant explosives in the skulls of all government employees so that if they attempt to defect to another nation, you can remote detonate their heads.
A fairer way of rephrasing the last line might be "such a project WOULD make EVEN MORE sense IF it helped them in their lobby activities." The disadvantage being that it begs the question "How does selling software or any products to the government help in lobby activities?"
AWS and EC2 are both complete dogshit in terms of I/O and general performance.
Since the cloud is for government, microsoft can provide a version without all the logging and backdoors, thus massively faster and less resource-hungry. It will probably run pretty well on a 486.
As long as I have time to relocate outside the country before it goes online, I'm ok with it.
US will start to replace rones with chairs.
We in India use Fairfox all the times - it is very good, not as good as Google Krom but Fairfox is good too..
I did not know it was made by Microsoft too...
I don't get it. How do they call it "in the cloud" if the servers are located on-site? Isn't that what we started with decades ago –– a server and dumb terminals (er, excuse me, a thin client)? And storage is so cheap these days!
Yes, it's safer to have everything physically in-house (or securely co-located). But, what I can't fathom is how any of the purchasing-department types and manager-types fall for this "new" setup that offers no advantages. It's just handcuffing your company to that one vendor.
/CSB: At a former company, upper management studied options for getting off of Lotus Notes, the biggest heap of crap I've ever seen. The conclusion of their expensive study was that, "We can't afford to get off of Lotus Notes. The change-over would be too expensive."
I think IBM got wind of the study, and raised their price even more for the next renewal.
It sure sounds like Microsoft wants to be like Big Blue, making their big bucks in consulting services. It seems to be working out okay for them, I'm not entirely sure Microsoft however can manage not to shoot themselves in the foot in trying it.
Well, no, although that is interesting.
It's "Cloud", as in cloudy thinking, I'm guessing. It's cloud in the sense that you aren't allowed to know what the government is doing. It's cloud in the sense that Microsoft is not doing well lately, and is desperate for an easy contract for expensive stuff, paid by taxpayers.
there was a document that went out from DoD about two months ago; a thin-client/zero-disk initiative architectural overview. DoD's (public) plan is to transition to a majority thin client IS (information system) inventory by 2020. the servers will be Enterprise assets (meaning, theatre-level) so those at different installations (on-the-ground administrators) will not have a choice. case in point, there are authorized security baselne configurations for redhat, centOS, and other *nixes. there used to be one for Mac, but it was discontinued (dunno why). even when Mac was legally usable on the DoD network, it and *nixes needed waivers and by-hand security configuration out the ass to be usable for any normal work. you dont have your email classification application (ones ive seen were windows-only outlook plugins), no group policy, no HBSS (at the time), etc. you had your choice of operating systems, but everyone used Windows.
i was very excited to read the DoD overview, we spend way too much money on what are basically the same computers over and over (no functional need to upgrade from the first 64bit core 2 duos we bought years ago aside from product end of life, but that can be worked out with the vendor if the DoD put some effort into it) except for the fact that we keep upgrading to the latest and greatest Windows and then shitting on it with banners, some inane (and some not) security crap, and local clients (HBSS, remote desktop, AV, SCCM, etc...). put a thin client on everyone's desk and instead of a team of soldiers endlessly patching windows vulns that SCCM didnt hit (likely the client shitting itself for no reason), you patch the master image and everyone is GTG. save money, save time (more money).
god i hope this isnt what theyre settling on for their "thin client"
Blue Sky of Death?
Ha hahahahahahahahaha.....
For fuck's sake, "cloud" is not a technology, it's the latest marketing scam to get everyone relinquish control of their devices and data to the modern equivalent of the mainframe.
Ron Swanson said it best: "Never half-ass two things:. Whole-ass one thing."
This big government contract allows MS to report cloud profits to its shareholders, even as non-government users jump ship. In doing so MS helps keepo the government from answering for the economic damage it's spying has caused.
Compared to Windows Azure, "Fairfax" cloud operating system would provide enhanced security, relying on physical servers on site at government locations.
This tells me all I need to know about Microsoft's cloud server solutions. It needs enhanced security to be used by an organization that has data it wants to keep and control access to.
Microsoft's new Xbox One console, designed in partnership with the NSA, *ALWAYS* connects to NSA cloud servers whenever it is online. Every Xbone reports that it is ready for 'duty' (NSA can command any online console to begin 'transparent' streaming without disrupting ANY current Xbone activity, including the most processor intensive AAA games).
Every Xbone (as in each and every console) monitors everyone in the room (the times they enter and leave) and takes head-shot photos that are uploaded to NSA servers for identification. This data stream is tiny in bandwidth, and no amount of monitoring of traffic will show a notable bump, because Microsoft maintains a constant series of upload activities from every connected console to disguise such activity.
Is it any surprise that MS expects its reward, in a time of collapse in the traditional PC marketplace, to be massive new contracts from the US government?
Understand this. Microsoft is advancing NSA spying to a greater degree than any previous technology initiative outside the mass recording of EVERY phone call made in the USA. Microsoft is placing the world's most advanced, and most reprogrammable, spy device into the homes of tens of millions of Americans. Better, it is getting these suckers to PAY for the privilege of inviting the NSA into their living room or child's bedroom.
A single click by an NSA agent, and any online Xbone is streaming a high quality video feed from that person's home. The kinect sensor system that enables this has its own OS, its own CPU cores, its own GPU and hardware blocks for capture/compression/encryption. The Kinect sensors CANNOT be disconnected, switched off, or placed in a position where they cannot 'see' the full room. Disconnected, and the console refuses point-blank, to work. Covered, or pointing at a wall, and the depth sensor motion tracking device recognises the attempt to defeat kinect, and the console DEMANDS immediate "recalibration" of Kinect.
Sure, a person with enough time, energy and expertise can defeat Kinect, but then such a person would be smart enough to NEVER bring the NSA spying device into their home in the first place. Microsoft and NSA research convinces them that even 'paranoid' owners will forget about the privacy invading implications of Kinect after a couple of weeks, and just forget about it.
Obviously, even for those that choose to own it, Xbone is NEVER supposed to be a 100% coverage system. It is a first step into grooming the sheeple to accept the world described in the novel 1984 and other dystopian works. So-called 'smart' TVs now have even better placed cameras/microphones always watching the room, using the excuse of 'Skype' video calls.
People are entitled to want to make video calls, BUT the law should require built in slid-able lens caps and a light that is mandated to be lit when the camera is active. Shills will say this can be over-ridden, but they purposely miss the point. The user MUST be given the option do deactivate always on monitoring. Then, when/if hackers discover a device is powering the camera system when the user has told it to be off, we will have a public scandal. It is to avoid EXACTLY this issue that Microsoft pre-announces that Xbone Kinect is "always on". No matter WHAT hackers and investigators discover about the Xbone after release, Microsoft can explain away by saying "we always said the Xbox One is constantly monitoring via Kinect for reasons we won't discuss".
Microsoft even seeding the moron technical community with its 'patent' for ensuring too many people are not attempting to watch a movie. This was a NSA move to provide a cover story if the issue of always on Kinect spying became too high profile.
Microsoft really are the new Apple, they claim to make the newest and best things ever.
Well, besides the fact that Microsoft has no fans, only shills.
Instead of the 'Start' menu, they will have the 'Spy' menu.
If it acquires resources on instantiation like a duck, then its a shared_ptr<Duck>
I 1st heard the term "cloud" back in the early 1990's using IBM midranges - & what I'm seeing NOWADAYS? Not much different, IF @ all!
APK
P.S.=> Ecclesiastes 1:9 - "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun" (in other words, there's VERY LITTLE, if any, TOTALLY "original thought")...
... apk
Have gnu, will travel.
So why did they name it after a dying Australian newspaper company? Is it like naming Azure after the blue screen?
Wind Blows.
user@host$ diff
so tightly built into Active Directory it's near impossible to use anything
but windows. Arrg.
If things keep going the way they are going, then the US govt will soon be their only customer. So of course they are "working" on this ...
http://www.zerohedge.com/print/477053
Like you didn't see that coming.
How these people can claim to make anything that is cloud-worthy is beyond me.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Fairfax is the name of the local psych hospital nearest to the MS campus.
Blue Screen Of Death, greeting the President and all the Unelected Government Directors and hired succulent workers.
Made my day (night).
Vampire loves you. True.
This announcement is merely the professional* way for Microsoft to say that they have teamed up with the NSA to bring us Windows 9.
* Professional in the sense of B.S. office politics.
As QWest found out the hard way, if you don't cooperate with NSA, you don't get government contracts.
Here is the background to the story.
So, MS gets lucrative government contracts. What does that say?
"I see you're spying on foreign dignitaries! Would you like help with that?"
How is it possible that the First Post didn't reference Skynet?
Slashdot is not what it used to be.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
...a cloud operating system that is specially meant for government purposes.
Cloud OS = vaporware, right? And an OS geared towards government would have to be slow, heavy, overly bureaucratic, doing things that you are not supposed to know about and sending information about your activities to somebody that you are told about - that's Windows, basically, isn't it?
THEIR clouds are security jokes because THEY sold backdoors to the NSA.
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles:
Assumption:
Going Concern: assumes that the business will be in operation indefinitely.
Kinda difficult when you're hanging from the gallows on your own rope.
"The Capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them."
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
I say old bean, looks like you're trying to dash off a missive to an aged aunt. Mind if I give it a bash, what-what?
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
After all, the government doesn't buy it - only rents it.
And MS gets to hold the entire government up for ransom.
It would let MS know ahead of time about any "problems" that might be solved by suitable "contributions"...
Especially if somebody tries to leave.
you might as well just send the chinese govern^H^H^H^H^H^H rogue hackers a copy of all our files because with microsoft's level of security, they'll have their hands on everything in a few days.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
True, except the new name is more expensive. Mod parent up.
It will be Windows. Its all they know, its all they do.
The most security flawed company in the world is providing enhanced security? No, it'll be garbage which will make us all vulnerable.
And they said it was dumb...
When it rains it pours.
No one here in Europe trusts the American services and companys anymore. Obama killed the trust.
"I see you would like to stop the missle countdown. May I help?"
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
Kinda like today's congress! Argh...
Both companies still create a lot of hardware and software, but dont make truck loads of money in those sectors any more. Startups are more nimble at exploiting new computing niches. IBMs main revenue is from services.
What trust?
Are you really that dumb?
Oh right, this is /. ...