US Department of Transportation bans Vista, Office 2007, and IE7 from their computers

[zekrahminator]

The US DOT (United States Department of Transportation) has decided that they will not upgrade their office computer to the latest software available from Microsoft. Their reason is very simple.

There appears to be no compelling technical or business case for upgrading.

Alternate motives appear to be cost, which is considerable, even for the average upgrader (full Office 2007 retails for around $330, Windows Vista Business retails for about $300 full). And so, instead of upgrading all of their Windows XP computers, the US DOT will instead be considering PC's based on Novell's Suse Linux, and may also use Apple Macintosh computers. The US DOT may also not have the hardware to support the full version of Windows Vista.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[newtekie1]

Vista I understand, Office 2007 I understand, but IE7? IDIOTS!

Also Zek, maybe I missed something, but the USDOT isn't the Department of Justice.

 

[ktr]

sooner or later they will upgrade (when microsoft releases a deadly virus that will destroy everything non vista )

 

[Sasqui]

sooner or later they will upgrade (when microsoft releases a deadly virus that will destroy everything non vista )

LOL... our company (over 5000 now), is still doing pilot programs on Vista - and the programs are tough to get into. Ironic when we're a software company on the "bleeding edge". XP took about 9 months before full support and adoption. But IT works on a budget like the rest of us.

 

[Sasqui]

Vista I understand, Office 2007 I understand, but IE7? IDIOTS!

Also Zek, maybe I missed something, but the USDOT isn't the Department of Justice.

Yes, the DOT is department of transportation - I'd suspect that's who we are talking about, the DOJ is MUCH more progressive.

 

[XooM]

keep in mind that there are still features to be released over time in patches or SP1; it does make good security sense to sit on your hands for 9+ months after an OS release.

 

[Easy Rhino]

well duh. this happens after every OS release. im glad govt institutions arent rushing out to pay hundreds of thousand of not millions on new software they wont take advantage of. of course unlike in the mid 90s there are other options like suse linux. i cant imagine tho the amount of money and man power lost to train everyone how to use linux...

 

[Darkrealms]

Beating the dead Horse! DOT (Dep. of Trans.)

i cant imagine tho the amount of money and man power lost to train everyone how to use linux...

>< neither can the government.

Vista I understand, Office 2007 I understand, but IE7? IDIOTS!

IE7 changed too many things, we can't use it in the medical industry reliably yet. To many web connections between providers. Smart not to upgrade that one yet either.

Beating the dead Horse! DOT (Dep. of Trans.)

 

[Scavar]

Going to Suse eh? Why would they consider changing anything at all and just stay with what they have until it no longer works for anythnig.

And how did you get the DOT mixed up with the DOJ?

 

[zekrahminator]

Also Zek, maybe I missed something, but the USDOT isn't the Department of Justice.

You're probably right, but I'm lazy .

 

[WarEagleAU]

Well its not for gaming....so I see them not needing to upgrade. IE7 is cool, but its not Firefox and not all that.

 

[Wile E]

but IE7? IDIOTS!

If they're anything like our company, they probably use a lot of web based apps. Our company blocked IE7 from all the machines because it broke some of our apps in testing. They're working on making everything compatible tho, as IE7 is more secure.

 

[newtekie1]

"there appears to be no compelling technical or business case for upgrading"

I think security is a pretty compelling technical and business case, especially when you are dealing with computers that deal with a large amount of people's information. I mean think about it, think of how much damage someone can do with the information you give at the DMV. The DOT computers hold all the information on your driver's license, you social secirty number, everything needs for identity theft. That is why they are idiots.

They might have a few apps that break because of IE7, but those should have been fixed in the beta stages of IE7's release. They had months to deal with those issues.

 

[Wile E]

"there appears to be no compelling technical or business case for upgrading"

I think security is a pretty compelling technical and business case, especially when you are dealing with computers that deal with a large amount of people's information. I mean think about it, think of how much damage someone can do with the information you give at the DMV. The DOT computers hold all the information on your driver's license, you social secirty number, everything needs for identity theft. That is why they are idiots.

They might have a few apps that break because of IE7, but those should have been fixed in the beta stages of IE7's release. They had months to deal with those issues.

If security is the reason, wouldn't it make more sense to go to Linux or Mac then?

And about IE7, I can't speak for the DOT, but our company won't test until the product is in final.

 

[newtekie1]

If security is the reason, wouldn't it make more sense to go to Linux or Mac then?

Not in a business envirnment already set up to use Windows it doesn't.

And about IE7, I can't speak for the DOT, but our company won't test until the product is in final.

That is one of those idiotic things I hate about some companies, and then they complain about things not working when they had months to fix the problems while the product was in beta. You better believe IE7 was installed on test computers at my company the day it was available for beta.

 

[Wile E]

Not in a business envirnment already set up to use Windows it doesn't.

Ahhh, didn't think of it from that perspective.

That is one of those idiotic things I hate about some companies, and then they complain about things not working when they had months to fix the problems while the product was in beta. You better believe IE7 was installed on test computers at my company the day it was available for beta.

I agree with you here. I wish my company would get on the ball with this stuff. Hell, we use a custom written data base program. They just rolled out ver. 2.0 about 6 mo ago, haven't debugged it since. And there are plenty of bugs to be worked out. I just can't figure out their mentality on this crap.

 

[mout12]

All the DOT is interested in upgrading are F***ing speed bumps all over my god damn neighborhood.

 

[AshenSugar]

Vista I understand, Office 2007 I understand, but IE7? IDIOTS!

Also Zek, maybe I missed something, but the USDOT isn't the Department of Justice.

ie7 breaks HUGE numbers of apps that rely on the ie5/6 rendering engine to work, when i say HUGE numbers im not kidding, out of 50 apps tested 47 failed to work properly or at all with ie7 installed, hence most companys are blocking it.
i know of one company around here that also blocks FF but allows Opera for web browsing, they block IE from being able to get online(security software on each box) because it is still far from being as secure as opera or even ff.

well duh. this happens after every OS release. im glad govt institutions arent rushing out to pay hundreds of thousand of not millions on new software they wont take advantage of. of course unlike in the mid 90s there are other options like suse linux. i cant imagine tho the amount of money and man power lost to train everyone how to use linux...

acctualy if setup properly by default its not hard to teach ur avrage user to use linux over windows, using KDE or IceWM or Enlitenment or even Gnome(properly configuared for windows users ofcorse) even my mother didnt have any problem surfing or doing office stuff on my xandros test box when he main pc was down for a week(had to clean it of viri my father got on it at the time, also had to format it after backing up her files, took time because its an older box with an ata33 bigfoot hdd.....)

xandros is so easy to use once setup that even my pairnts who are AFRADE to try anything new or diffrent where able to coap with it, infact my father was acctualy impressed at how fast i was and how easy it was for him to get on his office system with cirtrix(xandros has the client on their app server)

mind you these are NOT technical people at all, they are infact FAR FROM IT, my father cant fix word when he accdently hits the insert key

but they where able to deal with the diffrances easly.

vector SOHO(on my laptop) works fine for my mother as well, with icewm its just as easy for her as using windows.

i dont care for suse or most of the other top named distros tho, mostly because they arent as good for everyday users as their fully free counterparts.

DOT or whoever should have looked at desktop BSD as it offers a better base behind it IMHO.

oh and yes my mother delt with Desktop bsd fine as well, tho she did bitch about it not having opera already installed for her( i forgot, she dosnt like FF due to its interface limitations.)

 

[newtekie1]

ie7 breaks HUGE numbers of apps that rely on the ie5/6 rendering engine to work, when i say HUGE numbers im not kidding, out of 50 apps tested 47 failed to work properly or at all with ie7 installed, hence most companys are blocking it.
i know of one company around here that also blocks FF but allows Opera for web browsing, they block IE from being able to get online(security software on each box) because it is still far from being as secure as opera or even ff.

Well as stated in the conversation already, they had MONTHs to test and fix apps on IE7 before it was released. It shouldn't be a problem unless the software company is lazy, and in that case it is time to look at a better software company.

Far from being as secure? IE has 6 unpatched vulnerabilities and is rated as only Moderately critical. Firefox has 3 unpatched, and is rated Less Critical, which is only one notch below the IE7 rating. IE isn't as secure as Firefox, but isn't is far behind. Saying it is far behind in security is like saying the C student is far behind the C+ student. Opera with its 1 unpatched vulnerability is the most secure though. However from a security stand-point sticking with IE6 is just plain stupid.

 

[AshenSugar]

m8 companys SHOULDNT HAVE TO FIX SHIT THAT MS BREAKS.

using IE at all is just plane stupid, its non standred complyant, its ms crap, give it up.......

 

[newtekie1]

So MS should just stop updating its products because it might break something?

Who cares what is more standard compliant, does standards compliance affect my web viewing at all? No. Websites will always have to worry about working with IE long before other browsers simply because that is what people use. So as a user, I don't worry about standards compliance.

As an ex-web developer I learned that it was much easier to just shut up and code for IE than it was to spin my wheels complaining about working around IE. At the end of the day I still have to code for IE, at the end of the day tomorrow I will still have to code for IE. No amount of complaining will change that.

 

[Sh00t1st]

i think they shouldn't just focus on coming out with something new but a more highly improved refined quicker xp. since i hear most people aren't really switching to vista. wonder how many layers of programing languages like c+ and vb and others they have lumped into vista, it's gotta be at least 3 different languages lol, if not many more.

 

[niko084]

So MS should just stop updating its products because it might break something?

Who cares what is more standard compliant, does standards compliance affect my web viewing at all? No. Websites will always have to worry about working with IE long before other browsers simply because that is what people use. So as a user, I don't worry about standards compliance.

As an ex-web developer I learned that it was much easier to just shut up and code for IE than it was to spin my wheels complaining about working around IE. At the end of the day I still have to code for IE, at the end of the day tomorrow I will still have to code for IE. No amount of complaining will change that.

True words of a person who would like to see Microsoft take of the world of computer software..

STANDARDS is what keeps everything working. NOBODY should have to TENDER to microsofts lack of willingness to work with the rest of the world. Which mostly do it better then microsoft, the problem is they got BIG BIG and everyone knows how to use it, now they are cocky and ignorant. Why do you think various versions of linux have had such huge amounts of public funding boosts and tons of people are starting to use it, learn it, and program for it? It's not because Microsoft owns the world, its because a large group of people are growing very sick of their big boy on the block attitude.

 

[zekrahminator]

Are we fighting again? *sigh*.

 

[niko084]

Are we fighting again? *sigh*.

No fighting just drawing a point.