US Army equipping all Windows PCs with Vista by end of 2009

[edesignuk]

While a good number of its machines are already running the OS -- about 13 percent at this point -- the United States Army has mandated that before the clock strikes midnight on December 31st, 2009 that all of its Windows-powered computers must switch from XP to Vista, presumably and hopefully with Service Pack 2. Additionally, all Office 2003 users will have to upgrade to the 2007 variant, but thankfully, someone with a little Vista experience made sure to omit standalone weapons systems from the mandate -- you know, because there's not really time to click through eight confirmation boxes when launching a time-sensitive homing missile. All jesting aside, we're flummoxed that the Army didn't just wait for Windows 7 to roll out in a few months before making this decision, but hey, what's a few more billion in upgrade costs next year, right?

Engadget.

Strange choice indeed. The costs and complexities of something on this scale must be huge, can't really understand why you'd go through the pain for Vista when it's about to be replaced.

 

[Skika]

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.


Thats some good reason to upgrade

 

[Zagreus]

Let's just hope Barack Obama doesn't declare war with North Korea any time soon............

 

[bartelby]

Governments work very slowly.

We're still using XP in work and about to change all the IT equipment. I asked if that meant we'd get Windows 7 instead of Vista.
The reply:
"Well, we've only just finished checking compatibility with Vista, so that'll likely be rolled out with the new PCs. We haven't started checking Windows 7 yet."