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

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?

[Via HotHardware]

[qwack @ May 23rd 2009 3:05PM]

Another MS post?

[RioRyan @ May 23rd 2009 3:08PM]

Another useless comment?

[qwack @ May 23rd 2009 3:09PM]

why thank you.

[Wiigee @ May 23rd 2009 3:18PM]

oh no they posted about something other than apple!! this place is going down hill, its like they are turning into a tech blog instead of a apple blog!

[Templarian @ May 23rd 2009 3:23PM]

I'm surprised they haven't posted that the sensor bar is real and will be at E3. I sent the tip in early yesterday (with some other details, but you guys can wait for the article). My friend will be at the booth. Lucky people.

[ash @ May 23rd 2009 3:24PM]

C'mon, this argument starts in every single post regarding either Microsoft or Apple. It's wasted thread real estate.

[Shinigami @ May 23rd 2009 3:39PM]

Apple blog, MS blog... both are news, long live Engadget! :P

[Techie @ May 23rd 2009 4:34PM]

You would think the Army is smart enough to deploy their own OS.

[m3tric @ May 23rd 2009 5:32PM]

Ohs Noes....another Vista hate post from Engadget. It's the worst OS EVAR!!! ZOMG......

Get over yourselves. Vista post SP1 has been great, provided you're not running on hardware that was made in 1991

[Konstantin @ May 23rd 2009 5:56PM]

Why not just wait for Windows 7 like everyone else is doing?

[g3user1usa @ May 23rd 2009 10:36PM]

OK, soldiers. I'd like to introduce our newest commanding officer. He'll be leading the troops into the next battle. Give a snappy salute to.... Major Fail (aka Hasta la VISTA).

I sure hope the U.S. Army doesn't have to depend on this crappy OS to fight any major battles or they'll be sending for extra body bags. Even the corporations don't want to upgrade and yet they're staking human lives on this already outdated OS. The Army had better have some heavy duty computers to run this bloated, processor-sucking OS. Otherwise, those underpowered computers will be puking their guts all over the battlefield like an enemy recruit facing a Blackhawk Chaingun.

[green.infiniti @ May 23rd 2009 3:08PM]

Silly Army!

[Greg @ May 23rd 2009 3:59PM]

They should switch to Mac OS or their own OS, to keep it more secure.

Silly army indeed.

[Dummy00001 @ May 23rd 2009 4:14PM]

@Greg, it seems many people miss point that the Army has also bunch of plain solitaire-playing bureaucrats.

Upgrade of previous MS stack to new MS stack on bureaucrat's PCs doesn't mean that they suddenly put Windows onto mil-grade systems. And even then, "military grade" generally refers to hardware. OS can be pretty much any crap, since it is rarely (if ever) connected to Internet/whatever. (Though normally real-time OSs are used and Windows is far from being anything real-time).

[sgt_easton @ May 23rd 2009 5:04PM]

@Greg -

The Military uses computers for more than just dicking around on the internet, so Mac OS wouldn't suffice.

I speak from experience - 10 years AF.

[blitzkrieg @ May 24th 2009 3:36AM]

@Greg

Yes because last time I checked, the Army was looking for ways to dazzle their intelligence briefings with Keynote

[vvnraman @ May 24th 2009 4:10AM]

Now everytime they want to fire a missile, the UAC will ask them "Are you sure you want to fire a missle?".

[ImaYam @ May 24th 2009 12:12PM]

@ greg

Yeah, ur right.

As a matter of fact, they should just kick the bucket on any OS's and just upgrade to the new Shuffles!

[IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII (BarCODE) @ May 25th 2009 5:39AM]

I read once, the IT gurus in the Army said that they preferred Windows because MAC OS security problems are more severe than those that exist in Windows.

[John @ May 23rd 2009 3:06PM]

It's more of a troubleshooting thing than anything else; they need to start upgrading now before Microsoft stops supporting XP.

[Philip @ May 23rd 2009 3:18PM]

ummm the goverment can pay for support till 2014 -.-'

[JayC @ May 23rd 2009 3:40PM]

This is true, Microsoft will stop supporting XP even for the DoD.

[NeoJew @ May 23rd 2009 4:12PM]

ZOMG! Intelligent post!?

[bublik @ May 23rd 2009 3:07PM]

why would army want vista?

[AJ in the East Bay @ May 23rd 2009 3:09PM]

Because it's a more secure OS than XP. That's what this is all about.

[Kamokazi @ May 23rd 2009 3:17PM]

AJ is correct.

And the reaosn they did not select 7 is that, while all early tests indicate it will be better, it does not have 2.5 years under its belt yet.

And note they said "all their WINDOWS PCs" not all their PCs. They do use *nix variants for a lot of things.

[CleverEndeavor @ May 23rd 2009 3:23PM]

even though there are annoying UAC prompts, it is ttill a safer alternative to a new OS (7).

[Nick @ May 23rd 2009 3:31PM]

If annoying means more secure and safer than why not? After all security is an issue more often exploited through the users, especially with their lame ass name passwords.

[LondonConsultant @ May 23rd 2009 3:41PM]

"It's wasted thread real estate"

Don't worry. Waste enough thread real estate and the government will be forced to bail it out. If if they can afford to bail out the banks and migrate to Vista just as Windows 7 comes out, then threads should be no problem.

[pika2000 @ May 23rd 2009 3:42PM]

It would be easier migrating from Vista to 7 than from XP to 7. Obviously they didn't choose Windows 7 because it's not even out yet. =D However, Windows 7 is pretty much an optimized Vista under the hood, so one can say it is as proven as Vista can ever be.

[Treefingers @ May 23rd 2009 4:42PM]

What a waste of resources.... One might say Vista and the US Army have a lot in common.

[AVG @ May 23rd 2009 5:04PM]

"even though there are annoying UAC prompts, it is ttill a safer alternative to a new OS"

GOOD GOD ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS? Another person who hasn't figured out the THREE CLICKS necessary to turn that off in the YEARS since Vista released?! The horse is dead!

[Kyle @ May 23rd 2009 5:14PM]

Kamokazi is correct. I'm in Field Artillery and for the systems we use to direct the artillery are unix-based. Most computer systems that really need the security have a unix-based OS.

[Patriks7 @ May 23rd 2009 5:40PM]

"Because it's a more secure OS than XP. That's what this is all about."
While true, wouldn't the army want to have their own OS?

[Asha @ May 23rd 2009 6:49PM]

Why would anyone want to use Vista? XP is a decent enough OS and Windows 7 isn't far off.

[sk8ordie @ May 23rd 2009 7:00PM]

@ Kyle " Most computer systems that really need the security have a unix-based OS." Like the Macs? Or are there any other UNIX based OS?

And at the article, " you know, because there's not really time to click through eight confirmation boxes when launching a time-sensitive homing missile. " Ha ha lmao

[Kamokazi @ May 23rd 2009 7:31PM]

@pika-True, but there are still changes, which are still 'unknowns',

@Patriks-Do you have any idea how much money would be wasted on that?

@Asha-Vista has much better security than XP. In fact, that's the pain reason people don't like it...all that new security causes lots of little nusiances

@sk8-Erm...how about just Unix itself? I was implying that they probably use a combination of Unix, Linux, BSD, etc. No OS has to be 'based' on it...it can run by itself. What he probably means is the shell and UI they created for it is based on Unix. Heck, you could even argue that OSX isn't even an indepentent operating system...it's just a VERY elaborate shell for Unix :-)

[roach @ May 23rd 2009 8:27PM]

Yup, more secure! I have 3 Vista running since early Vista Beta (it was painfully in the beginning) and none of them have Antivirus installed. Just keep updates on, UAC on, get latest drivers and run malicious removal tool every month and it runs like butta. I would even say that Vista is more secure than Window 7 because Vista doesn't allow user to set UAC security level...its always high.

[Wwhat @ May 23rd 2009 10:06PM]

Vista: the refuge of 'those' people.

[IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII (BarCODE) @ May 24th 2009 4:46AM]

@AJ

Umm... The army was given a super secure version of XP which is waay different than the one the rest of us know. Security was not the reason it was rejected, driver signing was.

http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/article09-203
http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/01/air-force-now-using-super-secure-version-of-windows-xp/

[Patriks7 @ May 24th 2009 6:15AM]

"@Patriks-Do you have any idea how much money would be wasted on that?"
Maybe stop wasting so much money into pointless research? I believe that the US army has the biggest spending, greater than all the other countries combined.

[Ending @ May 24th 2009 10:45AM]

@IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII (BarCODE) :

What is enforced driver signing if not 'security'? It's not like the Army is running a whole lot of nonstandard hardware on their generic, internet facing PCs; they don't need any custom drivers. Enforced driver signing along with UAC (presumably the user accounts will be set up so they can't turn this off) will/should prevent 'bad guy' rootkit installations. Either through phishing email or browser exploit.

[Twitchy @ May 25th 2009 5:25AM]

"why would army want vista?"

Because military men are suckers for punishment.

[bcingle @ May 25th 2009 7:12AM]

I'm in the US Army, proudly serving in Afghanistan (albeit at a desk job for the time being). I look forward to the upgrade to Vista, and at the same time I dread it. I knew it was coming ever since the OS came out. The Army can't rely on XP forever! It has to make a switch to something sooner or later. I was kinda hoping for a commissioned version of Linux...

After several years of working with US Army equipment, I can tell you that most everything that isn't a PC sitting on a desk in an office (homing missile controllers, etc) are almost all Unix/Linux (some Red Hat). Of the PC's sitting on desks, all of them run Windows, because that's the only thing the Signal guys will support, and that's what you have to be running to be on the Network.

I really don't think all of our computers are Vista-capable. The newer are, sure. They are very capable. However, some units (National Guard comes to mind) use old, out-dated piece-of-crap computers that don't meet the specs. If those computers will be required to switch to Vista, they will also be required to be replaced by new machines.

I also dread the switch because. frankly, there are a lot of idiots in the Army. It took some senior non-commissioned officers 8 years to learn XP, now they are basically starting all over with Vista! God help them when they have to ask the young officers how to open an Office 2007 document!

[TomTom2007 @ May 23rd 2009 3:12PM]

Just couldn't wait for Windows 7?
Yeah, me neither. Come on Big M.

[DXFanman @ May 23rd 2009 3:14PM]

This just makes it even easier for SkyNet to take over now....the end is near....

[ALBGunner04 @ May 24th 2009 2:25AM]

Not if UAC has anything to say about it!

[gerbick @ May 23rd 2009 3:15PM]

Dumbest thing ever. I've not even seen a NSA guide to secure Vista yet; but there were ones for XP, Win2k Server, Win2k3 Server... but Vista? Meh.

Guess they're trying to be "secure" via obscurity.

[Someone is here @ May 23rd 2009 3:30PM]

@gerbick

Ok, I haven't tried it, but it seems that the name says it all!

http://www.nsa.gov/ia/guidance/security_configuration_guides/operating_systems.shtml#microsoft

Can't you read or search?

The NSA won't come to your house or send you letters telling you that they have a guide ready! LOOOOL

[gerbick @ May 23rd 2009 3:34PM]

lol. I guess the word "yet" escaped you somehow.

Simply put, there's been no request for it because most agencies didn't like Vista.