Heaven Help Us: US Army Adopts Vista
May 26, 2009 by Gordon
Filed under Features & Editorials
Is the World’s most powerful army really using Vista?
That is indeed the terrifying news coming out of Washington this month after the official ‘Army News Service’ admitted it is “migrating all of its Windows-based computers to Microsoft’s Vista operating system to bolster Internet security and standardize its information systems.”
Vista isn’t the only change however as Office 2003 is being swapped out for Office 2007 after the rule was – military speak time: “mandated in a Fragmentary Order published Nov. 22, 2008. It was sent out Army-wide as FRAGO 2 to Department of the Army Executive Order 056-05.”
Typing & Grand Turismo now core army skills
Training will begin on the 2 ½ year old operating system and productivity suite immediately.
In all fairness Vista with two service packs now under its belt is a much more compliant animal but still why the US military would want an OS which is targeted by almost every virus on the planet is beyond me. Haven’t these guys heard of Linux? Perhaps a custom build?
Ho hum.
Anyway, hackers across the globe unite: the US military has now advertised that a) it is running one of the most insecure operating systems in the world and b) most of its staff don’t know how to use it.
Just don’t re-route the nukes over London please…
Of course, the US Military will wait for a few service packs to be released before adopting a new operating system. The move to Vista has more to do with most software developers moving away from supporting XP and newer equipment that is native to Vista. I understand your cynical point of view since most users on the network would prefer to go with Windows 7 and skip Vista entirely. Either way its a process of eliminating older software and hardware that takes years. Most of the training is to get the computer illiterate users up to speed this includes civilians working for the military. Just wanted to share my point of view.
cheers,
Random Soldier