Apple Polishing Mac OS X for Uncle Sam? 91
polarfleece writes "A report on Macteens that the latest build of Panther contains strong evidence that it is being customized for U.S. Government applications.
I, for one, can't wait to see a whole lot of Apples being toted by gummint men (and women). Of course, do we REALLY want those gummint agents having access to the same technology we Apple users enjoy so much? On the other hand, to quote story author Clark Mueller, 'it just might be one of the more intelligent steps taken towards U.S. national defense.'"
Well ain't that cute... BUT IT'S WRONG! (Score:3, Funny)
Shouldn't that be: I, for one, welcome our new apple toting overlords!
Re:Well ain't that cute... BUT IT'S WRONG! (Score:2)
Re:Well ain't that cute... BUT IT'S WRONG! (Score:1)
Hey, insect, alien, and machine overlords are one thing, but you're actually welcoming gummint overlords?!? That's going too far!
embedded images? (Score:2, Interesting)
Does microsoft embed specialized content for "preferred rollout" people in Windows as well?
Perhaps this is just a kitchen sink issue, and the release builds will not contain such images?
Re:embedded images? (Score:5, Insightful)
Seems unlikely to me - probably a demo build (Score:3, Insightful)
Surely Apple would be much more lilely to create a separate 'Government Edition installer' that wouldlet the customer define a logo for the start-up screen and a message etc.
I suspect this build has some demo code in it, or that someon
Re:embedded images? (Score:2)
Nice move (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Nice move (Score:2, Insightful)
Geez.
It's just office equipment .
Re:Nice move (Score:5, Funny)
Bo$tich sucks! (Score:5, Funny)
Most Bo$tich users bash Swinglines without ever having really used them beyond the ubiquitous consumer "Tot 50" model they had as a kid. Believe me, pro-level Swinglines can "ream-crunch" just as well as the Bostich line!
The old straw-man arguments over refill compatibility have long since been resolved and the myth that Swinglines cost more to buy and maintain was put to rest with the redesign of the famous 747 Business Stapler series.
When I was forced to use a "Bo$t-bitch" for my job, it jammed constantly--and always at the wrong time. My Swingline has been operating jam-free for 19 straight days (and I AM a pro user).
PS: Anyone hear about the possibility that SL might roll out a water-cooled electric at the Paris Office Machines Fair? That would blow the springs out of any current BS device!
Re:Bo$tich sucks! (Score:2)
Re:Bo$tich sucks! (Score:5, Funny)
ahh, forget it.
Re:Bo$tich sucks! (Score:1)
it's nice to see some of the posts that get modded funny really ARE funny...
kudos to you my friend...
Re:Bo$tich sucks! (Score:2, Interesting)
The sutbtle point of the cartoon was that non-enthusiasts of any given topic will never understand the enthusiasts. (In this case, taken to the extreme with staplers.)
Re:Nice move (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Nice move (Score:2)
This should not come as a surprise (Score:5, Interesting)
systems in the world. Is it really surprising that Apple might make
an effort to court it?
Re:This should not come as a surprise (Score:2, Informative)
Gummint Mac use (Score:5, Insightful)
As I am a researcher, not an "information worker," (irony at its finest) my argument has always been that I know better what I need to do my job, than does some IT clown who wouldn't know scientific computing if it bit him on the ass. Yet EVERY computer-related purchase (right down to a cable or toner cartridge) must receive IT approval at some central location before it then takes weeks/months to actually GET purchased.
One thing that has helped is that I have completely segregated our laboratory network from the hospital network (which, by the way, for the longest time used unsecured WiFi until I showed them how easy it was to rummage around), thereby avoiding having to suffer through the mandated computer "training," which I can assure you is a complete waste of time, energy and money.
The IT guys here all know me, and are amused by me attempts to keep the lab Mac-based. I, on the other hand, am always amused by the nonstop labor on their part to keep the wintel stuff from falling apart. (Blaster, anyone?)
I hope that this offical addition of OS X to the supported list will make it easier for me to buy some G5s soon... Then I can pass some G4s down the line to the "Medical Media" (graphics) department, who were forced to switch from Macs several years ago. Not a popular decision. Not in the least.
Re:Gummint Mac use (Score:1)
By the way, I'm glad you're platform de jour will finally be getting a new os after how many YEARS of stagnation?
-1 Shut your hole!
Re:Gummint Mac use (Score:3, Insightful)
my boss once ordered a "mac flatscreen". request denied: you don't need a flatscreen monitor.
the boss then ordered a "cinema display" (the same thing). response: here ya go! have a good day sir.
Re:Gummint Mac use (Score:2, Interesting)
The included a CD of either AIX or MKLinux and were billed on FRPs and Invoices as "Unix RISC Workstations".
They were reboxed so that receiving wouldn't see the Apple boxes, but in all other reguards were G3 Minitower PowerMacs.
Re:Gummint Mac use (Score:2)
Ordering anything involves getting signatures from three different offices and much annoyance.
Re:Gummint Mac use (Score:1)
Re:Gummint Mac use (Score:1)
Navy Intranet? (Score:5, Interesting)
As reported in this older
The Navy/Marine Corps intranet is being used as a template for the tech that the "Dept. Of Homeland Security" will use. Fortunatley, for the time being anyway, that department seems as largely fictional as the name is ominous. Fictional in the sense that the departments that are supposed to be talking to one another in a free flow of information...aren't. Not even to mention that in true 'big gov't' fashion the project is massively over budget and deadlines keep getting pushed back further and further.
Go Uncle Sam! *yeesh*
Re:Navy Intranet? (Score:2)
Re:Navy Intranet? (Score:1)
The bases are getting less services for more money. Welcome to single party solutions...
Re:Navy Intranet? (Score:1)
Re:Navy Intranet? (Score:2)
Great for enterprise use (Score:5, Insightful)
It was fantastic -- trivial to administer, and every machine was configured such that absolutely no user-specific data or configuration information was stored on the local desktop. You could log in to your officemate's computer, another one down the hall, or clear across the country, and everything was exactly as if you were at your own desk (though cross-country use was a little slow at times). This is something I've never seen done with Windows.
It also made changing out hardware in case of failure a no-brainer -- grab a spare slab out of the closet on your way to the person's office, power down, swap units, power up, leave. 15 minutes, tops.
Just about all the users loved the system, too (imagine! Secretaries, using UNIX!
Anyway, if the MacOS X boxes are anywhere near as reliable and easy to manage as NeXT was, then I'd really hope that Apple starts to push the enterprise angle stronger....
Re:Great for enterprise use (Score:1, Informative)
The NeXT has/had *THE* best OS and development environment and I'm so glad it lives on in Mac OS X. Using project builder I can write complete, beautiful apps in an *afternoon*. I still can't be as productive with Java & Eclipse or vi and Perl/Ruby etc. Those NeXT
Has to be the IRS (Score:2)
Where else would you feel ashamed to admit that you work?
Well, besides OSDN.
Re:Great for enterprise use (Score:5, Interesting)
Ahhhh, now I know you are talking CIA. This actually surprised me back in 1991 or 1992 to see NeXT slabs on secretaries desks, but I thought it was very cool (I liked the Cubes). Aside from the rather interesting angle that certain current Apple fellows (former NeXT employees) had with cryptography, the security, built in scriptability, built in optical storage and other obvious choices for a critical, yet secure installation, NeXT had those cool black cases.
Not true (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Not true (Score:2)
http://www.drissman.com/avi/misc/voyagerapple/ [drissman.com]
Re:Apples EVERYWHERE! (Score:2)
Actually, you don't. Tuvak served on Voyager, not Enterprise.
Re:Not true (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Great for enterprise use (Score:2)
You can do exactly this with Mac OS X Server; now called the process is called NetBoot [apple.com], I dunno what it was called at NeXT.
When one was hosting OS 9 clients from OS X Server 1.2, the clients could be diskless. Now, however, OS X 10.2 clients require a local drive, but just for swap; everything else is on the server--which could be in a locked closet, as you mention. And the local swap isn't even necessary with Server 10.3--hm, maybe Apple removed that requirement by request of a specific client?
Lockout? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Lockout? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Lockout? (Score:3, Interesting)
Only if you had a "Mac only" policy. It is better to allow the best tool for the job rather than mandate a monoculture.
Re:Lockout? (Score:2)
Re:Lockout? (Score:1)
Obvious /. answer (Score:3, Funny)
But... but.... Apple, good!
Microsoft, bad!
Re:Lockout? (Score:4, Insightful)
With OS x the choice becomes even greater. The Mac has entered the *nix community and represents choice for the user. Web boxes do not have to be running IIS with the accompanying license and month patches, but can be Apache boxes with reliable support contracts. For the data entry person, a x86 Linux box running thin net to the application and data. More secure that a full fledged Windows box in which the person has rapid access to all the data. For the superuser who needs more box, a Mac or even Sun Blade. Oracle or MySql would handle the database needs. Standardize on MS Office and StarOffice. Administration is the pretty much the same on all machines. The kernel is customizable, and shell commands can be added or subtracted as need.
Hell, you can even put in some windows machines for the apps that require it.
No MS is the definition of single source. Everyone else knows how to play together.
Re:Lockout? (Score:2, Informative)
the point obviously was that a Mac does not lock one in any more than a windows, which was a direct response to the original comments. You proved that point.
In many offices, however, there is a notion that MS only has an advantage because of a common management scheme. Again, in direct response to the original assertion, a valid observation was made that OS X has the advantage of, at some level, using the same skillset of other *nix., another point that was refuted.
A
Re:Lockout? (Score:3, Insightful)
Really, I think you're mixing Apples and oranges. When you talk about a vendor lock in, it's where systems aren't interoperable with software or equipment from other vendors. If you want to use a BSD or Linux server on your network, O
Yes, but in a GOOD way! (Score:5, Interesting)
Government chooses Apple, gets 'integrated' solution and support for hardware and software. No more 'ping pong' between hardware and software vendors.
Also, Apple is the 'little guy' in that situation, they would be able to focus on their biggest client's needs, while MS has to be everything to everyone. If Uncle Sam says 'Jump' Apple would ask 'how high?' while Microsoft says 'maybe later!'
Using the 'underdog' is often the best way to get top-notch service, I work for a small company contracting on Citizens Bank, we all absoultely bust ass to make 'big brother' happy, while our larger competition has much bigger things to worry about. Sure, Citizens pays a bit more for us, but the VALUE is much better.
Re:Lockout? (Score:3, Informative)
Perhaps, but only for the client machines. Thanks to Apple's wholehearted adoption of open standards, you can mix and match to form the rest of your network, if you desire-- whereas Microsoft's stuff only plays nice with competitors' products grudgingly, when it plays nice at all.
~Philly
White Hats vs. Black Hats (Score:5, Funny)
So if government types start using Macs, that'll mean that the good guys are taking over! Woo! Hoo! (I love how the sun always shines in my own little reality...)
Re:SCSI on osx is four times more slow than os9 (Score:1)
oh you americans (Score:3, Insightful)
Not that I blame them. One of the jobs of government is to promote local businesses. The US would do well to develop many different competing computer platforms, rather then have all their eggs in one (shoddy) basket.
I'm also pleased that some other governments (germany, some asian ones) are trying to do the same. Perhaps we may have a range of interoperating platforms after all!
Re:oh you americans (Score:2)
Won't long before the only America labor in a tech product is the lawyer's billables for the EULA.
Finally, tax payers money go in to good use! (Score:5, Funny)
Seems to me that the reason why the Navy used Linux on their newly acquired Xserves [slashdot.org] were because they couldn't use Mac OS X without violating the contract!
Oh, but maybe you think this maybe be the reason [theapplecollection.com] to all this?
Or maybe it's because the government wants to become "hip" again? [wired.com]
Re:Finally, tax payers money go in to good use! (Score:2)
Man, don't scare me like that. You're one of those guys who puts Windows based machines in control of dangerous equipment, aren't you.
Apple in the Military (Score:3, Funny)
iMine (out of the box and into the ground in 10 minutes)
iTank (now with 40 GB hard drive to store 10,000 of your favorite songs while you drive around the desert and kill people)
Re:Apple in the Military (Score:1)
iSub (the world's fastest nuclear submarine) (and a helluva lot quieter than previous models)
The real reason? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:The real reason? (Score:1)
Why the government? (Score:2)
GAAAH! I already debunked this crap twice... (Score:5, Informative)
C'mon people - a little Google can take you a long way.
gummint agents (Score:1)