US Department of Transportation bans Vista

[Dowly]

Haha, good advertisement for M$. :rotfl:

http://government.zdnet.com/?p=2971

The United States Department of Transportation (DOT) has banned its users from installing Microsoft’s new Windows Vista, Office 2007 and Internet Explorer 7 software packages, saying there was no business or technical justification for the upgrades.

“Based on our initial analysis (from internal recommendations and analysis performed by Gartner Group), there appears to be no compelling technical or business case for upgrading to these new Microsoft software products,” the department’s chief information officer Daniel Mintz wrote in a memorandum dated 19 January, 2007.The CIO added there were specific reasons not to upgrade to the new software. These included the cost of the move (including hardware/software costs and labour), as well as compatibility concerns between Office 2007 and previous versions, primarily revolving around Microsoft Word.

Also, Mintz noted available funding was limited, and IT staff had already committed their time to the pending move of DOT’s headquarters to a new building.Mintz will issue a follow-up memorandum within 180 days from 19 January that would articulate his department’s strategic desktop and laptop technology roadmap.

DOT is a large department within the US government responsible for the country’s transportation network, including railway, aviation, road and maritime transport. It has around 55,000 staff.

[Skybird]

More of this. If vista becomes a very hurting failure for MS, certain questionable practices and idiotic design philosophies may get thought over for the next Windows generation. I hope Vista does as much damage as possible to MS. It would also strengthen the stand of alternative OS, which probably would be used by more of us if it would be easier and knowledge spreads how to make existing software compatible with these. The market-ruling monopole-like position of MS is not good for the customers.

[Dowly]

Originally Posted by Skybird

The market-ruling monopole-like position of MS is not good for the customers.

Agreed. Any sort of monopoly is bad for the customers. The boardgame is kinda fun, tho. :hmm:

[kiwi_2005]

Why is MS holding Directx10, every directx was freely available for DL, now DX10 will only come with Vista? I think we all know why. Gamers will need DX10 later on when games require you have it. So either we will have to buy vista or hope MS make DX10 available for DL for winxp users

Sry going of topic here.

[Iceman]

Originally Posted by kiwi_2005

Why is MS holding Directx10, every directx was freely available for DL, now DX10 will only come with Vista? I think we all know why. Gamers will need DX10 later on when games require you have it. So either we will have to buy vista or hope MS make DX10 available for DL for winxp users

Sry going of topic here.

Not off topic great observation..I am getting asked by customers about this OS and I don't know what to tell them but most already are leary and say like most new stuff they will wait a while the until the bugs rear they're heads.

[The Avon Lady]

I believe Vista is the foundation for maximizing audio and visual possibilities over the next several years.

Hints: DX10, 64 bit support.

It is naive to think that MS wasted all this time just for a prettier face. Stay tuned.

Originally Posted by Skybird

The market-ruling monopole-like position of MS is not good for the customers.

The fact of the matter is that no one has yet come up with a better mousetrap. Is Linux the answer? Not yet and I have my doubts if it ever will be. So that leaves us with who else exactly? :hmm: There's the possibility of Web apps but they have major minuses for heavy duty business customers. There are limits.

Too much whining. WinXP has been a big improvement for myself personally and for the office, over prior Windows versions.

Like everyone is saying, they need to get the kinks out of Vista. This should coincide with a slew of new hardware and software products that will wow us just as prior generations of these products did in their time.

But if you're satisfied with playing Space Invaders, no problemo.

[bradclark1]

MS will just find a way to force the change. They have changed the EULA before to force an issue.

[Skybird]

I am glad to report that my interest in new sims and games more and more dies out. It will be no big sacrifice for me to switch to another OS one day, or maybe even ban PCs completely from my house. A laptop for word proecessing and chess, and my dozen chess board computers is all I really would not miss anymore. I become more and more aware of the many negative consequences and dependencies global connectivity and the spreading of PCs in private life creates. It has benefits, yes. but as always before in history, progress also is gained at a cost, aprice that has to be payed. amongst others, growing vulnerability, dependency, a change from quality to quantity in the widest contexts. It gives comfortability to some actions we might wish to do via computer, but it also limits our perception, and the way of mental problem solving. It creates blueprints and shemes our brains must follow in order to make best use of these new gimmicks. It chnages the way we see our world, life, ourselves. It even changes our understanding of values, sense and meaning, worthless vs worthy. For some people, reality was what was to be seen on TV in the past. Today, reality is what is on the web. And if it is not on the web, it is not real.

Neil Postman: Amusing ourselves to death. An older book, but a classic. Thoughts that are more needed than ever.

[leeclose]

Well i have heard nothing but bad news about vista a very good friend of mines has recently forked out the 200gbp for it and wow did he have probs with it in the end he switched back to XP pro. Also he sent vista back and got his money back which he invested in a really good pair of TFT monitors so i'm afraid i aint going vista for a long time

[Neptunus Rex]

Originally Posted by Skybird

I am glad to report that my interest in new sims and games more and more dies out. It will be no big sacrifice for me to switch to another OS one day, or maybe even ban PCs completely from my house. A laptop for word proecessing and chess, and my dozen chess board computers is all I really would not miss anymore. I become more and more aware of the many negative consequences and dependencies global connectivity and the spreading of PCs in private life creates. It has benefits, yes. but as always before in history, progress also is gained at a cost, aprice that has to be payed. amongst others, growing vulnerability, dependency, a change from quality to quantity in the widest contexts. It gives comfortability to some actions we might wish to do via computer, but it also limits our perception, and the way of mental problem solving. It creates blueprints and shemes our brains must follow in order to make best use of these new gimmicks. It chnages the way we see our world, life, ourselves. It even changes our understanding of values, sense and meaning, worthless vs worthy. For some people, reality was what was to be seen on TV in the past. Today, reality is what is on the web. And if it is not on the web, it is not real.

Neil Postman: Amusing ourselves to death. An older book, but a classic. Thoughts that are more needed than ever.

I seem to recall reading somewhere that someone (many someone's) said the same thing about type printed books in Europe about 300 or so years ago.