Maine To Skip Vista, Go Directly To Windows 7 242
Preedit writes "The State of Maine is the latest organization to skip Windows Vista, which has been a near-disaster for Microsoft. An internal state document (dated September 15) uncovered by Infoweek reveals that Maine will not be upgrading its more than 11,000 personal computing devices from XP to Vista — ever. Instead, it's going to wait until Windows 7 ships in 2010 and hope for the best. The news is in line with a survey that shows only 4% of businesses in the UK have upgraded to Vista, the story notes. So much for that $300 million Seinfeld campaign." A commenter on the article makes the point that Maine's signing an enterprise software license with Microsoft means that Redmond doesn't really lose out on this deal; it simply allows the state to upgrade its equipment and software on its own time.
Go MAINE!!! (Score:5, Interesting)
Maine has been pretty interesting in the tech field lately. Recently we told RIAA to go pound sand in their ass. Now the State is making a choice to make the best choices (as they see) concerning their upgrade cycle.
This won't actually harm Microsoft in any way but it will save Maine some money in that they won't need to work on re-training people for Vista while they wait for the upgrade to Windows 7.
As the State is currently using Windows XP (and some old Win2k servers still) they should be able to continue some level of support for the remainder of this period assuming that there aren't any major delays with Windows 7. It will be interesting to see what happens.
As a side note, I just was up and across the mountain tops in the Height of the Land checking out the foliage. Once the Sun came out it was pretty vibrant. We cheated and cut across through Byron to Weld and then took 142 back down into Phillips getting out of the tourist areas. It was a nice trip, if you're in Maine and want to see the foliage than today might have been your best shot for this area.
Re:Go MAINE!!! (Score:5, Funny)
Recently we told RIAA to go pound sand in their ass.
THAT'S all it took to get rid of them? Man, all that wasted money on lawyers, shoulda just bought some sand.
Re:Go MAINE!!! (Score:5, Informative)
More accurately it took a judge down in the Colby College area. There was some info on /. about it as I recall. I think NYCL posted it.
*goes to look for it*
Here you go:
http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/05/29/2259238 [slashdot.org]
(In case you can't tell, I'm a happy Maine citizen.)
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The comment about this not having much consequence to MS is missing a very vital point: Vista was a back room deal to install locks and keys on everyones machines. They got a lot of money and a place in the new world order in exchange. Only, people are revolting, and they're not installing it like they're supposed to. Which is a big deal, because the economic systems are going to collapse, and their money isn't going to be worth shit. They're going to be irrelevant and hated. They shot big and lost.
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(In case you can't tell, I'm a happy Maine citizen.)
How do ya feel about Maine's enterprise license, using your tax money to pay for OS licenses they will never use?
Or about Microsoft, tying their software together under an enterprise license and through undocumented APIs and formats, abusing their monopoly, to make it seem like a good deal to your state?
(though I'm happy for your state's stand against the drive-by-lawyering of the RIAA)
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I am quite content with that as their license includes out-of-band support, hot fixes, etc... Their license is not like a normal end-user license. it is a contract that includes support that your average person doesn't have available.
We have looked at alternatives and this has been considered the most cost effective at this time. For the part about not upgrading, it isn't about how crappy Vista is - it is a matter of timing. (Please see the article in question.) It is unrealistic for us to bother with it. L
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THAT'S all it took to get rid of them? Man, all that wasted money on lawyers, shoulda just bought some sand.
Mainers are frugal!
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THAT'S all it took to get rid of them? Man, all that wasted money on lawyers, shoulda just bought some sand.
Mainers are frugal!
Ahhhyup
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Annoying as this may be to you, you may have just convinced me to visit Maine the next time I cross the ocean...
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Come on over. I don't care if you are annoying to me personally. Pfft. I'm not one who cares a whole lot if I dislike the person or like the person I talk to so long as the conversation is worth having. If you *are* going to come over (even on my foes list) then stop on in. We can hammered and argue the logic of our thinking in person.
Re:Go MAINE!!! (Score:5, Funny)
We can hammered and argue the logic of our thinking in person.
Sounds like someone already did.
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/me actually I'm working on some Molson XXX right now. ;) Gimme a couple hours and have some understanding - it isn't often that I get to post in a thread about Maine. ;)
We've got seven people and 1.3 million moose. S'not like we get a whole lot to contribute to /. ya know.
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My wife, from California, hadn't seen a moose in Maine so I took her to go "moose hunting" (with a camera). We started and headed up through the normal routes and then took a right to cross over across the heart of Maine. It got dark and eventually it was so bad we were no longer in Moose Watching Mode, we were in Moose Avoidance Mode.
We've already derailed the thread a bit so a bit more won't matter too much (/. really could do with a PM system to avoid off-topic more). I think I posted my email (munged) t
Re:Go MAINE!!! (Score:5, Funny)
You Mainers won't be so smug when you find out that Windows Mojave is really Vista!!!
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I hate to be the one to tell you this, but Windows 7 is effectively Vista SP2.
Windows 7 is a rebranding exercise more than it is a new operating system, due to the debacle of the Vista launch.
This time around:
-the low-end machines will be powerful enough to run all of Windows 7, so they don't need to pull the 'Vista-capable' crap to keep selling cheap systems with underpowered integrated video chips
-way more drivers are available for the devices you will have then (as you stop using older devices, and buy n
Re:Go MAINE!!! (Score:5, Insightful)
Err... You're not telling me anything? This isn't a stance against Vista. It is "not upgrading at this time." It isn't a stance against Microsoft. It is "not upgrading at this time." This is, in effect, waiting for SP2 (or SP3 I suspect in this case) to push the expense down the road when people are more prepared for it and the regularly scheduled hardware upgrades are already complete. Someone opted to spin the story without regard of the facts. This is *not* an anti-Vista ploy. Microsoft is still getting the same amount of money they got yesterday from us. This is NOT a pro Linux, Mac, Free/Open Source Software anything. This is JUST delaying upgrading until the hardware is available to run it and we can (hopefully) afford to run a few extra support staff to enable the transition to go more smoothly than it would at this point.
In other words, this is a Good Thing® for Maine. We've looked at alternatives (though not for a while) and stuck with Microsoft in the government area and Mac in the scholastic system. We've tossed up a pile of Linux servers (no Unix any more though as far as I know) and even have the internal DOJ running on Solaris (last I knew -- though I'm betting it is still running on Sun hardware). This is not a question of the OS for us, this is a question of keeping it simple so that we don't have to pay for retraining at this time and, if Windows 7 is close to Vista in looks/function then we save even more because the average user will have upgraded and been familiar with Vista by then.
Maine was almost immediately upgraded to Office 2007. The hardware supported it and their licenses allowed it with no additional costing to Microsoft. As contrary as it is to say on /. the help desk instances went up a little (according to first hand reports) and didn't overwhelm them to the point of even needing overtime. This is NOT an anti-Microsoft thing. This is not a potential for changing thing. This is JUST a choice to delay upgrading to ensure that we upgrade at a time when we're also moving the majority to new hardware and that hardware should support the new OS as well as the existing hardware and OS last just fine until that time.
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Maine has been slightly less than completely retarded as of late.
That doesn't make up for gutting UMS or continuing that idiotic laptops-for-kids program.
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At least once a week I go out and jack an eighth grader and steal their G4! I *like* that program!
Okay, I kid... It really is not a good idea as a program and, from my perspective, hasn't helped one damned bit.
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That's pretty much how I look at it. Those laptops were stupid to begin with; in high school I was pressed into helping deal with the damn things because the school's (middle school/high school) two IT people couldn't handle the load of "I AM RETARDED AND WANT MY COMPUTOBOX TO DO SHINIES!".
Currently I'm more pissed about UMS, though, being a student in Orono. Yes, let's chop the budgets even further!
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Hell yeah. People come from across the globe to see it. Giant buses go through, people drive, people fly in and rent. Maine has potatoes, trees, lobster, fish, and tourists. Most of our income (it would appear) is from tourism and the foliage season is one of the better ones as they come in, rent a hotel, drive around without consuming many of the natural resources, and then leave having deposited their dollars to visit what would have been there anyhow.
http://mainefoliage.com/ [mainefoliage.com] (I think but you can search f
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Ah it is beautiful there. I was out through Grafton Notch recently, headed into the "Rock" area and down through Conway, across towards the Castle in the Clouds, and back through Rt. 2 out of Vermont. Is the road up Mt. Washington closed yet? Given that the wind was upwards of 30 MPH gusts here in the Heights I'd have to guess that if they aren't closed with snow that they soon will be. If not then *maybe* next weekend I'll head over and grab some fireworks and make a trip up to see how it looks.
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my state of new hampshire does its fair share of the "autumnal display" as well...... as i'm north of the Notches (closer to Canada actually)
So do people still gather at the general store to use the internet?
Keep it please.
Seriously, I was just in my favorite state of NH just on Friday on business. Only got as far as the Lakes region, but the colors were looking good there. Still one of the greatest places on this earth.
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We've been using it for the last 7 years or so. Why can't we use it for another 5?
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Vista- It can't be given away (Score:5, Insightful)
Wait- Microsoft can't get people to install their flagship product, even though they've already paid for it, and the commenter's point is that this isn't bad for Microsoft?
Hilarious.
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Not in the sense from the State's contract with them. Maine is going to pay regardless. We're just not upgrading to Vista. Microsoft is going to get the same amount of money from us regardless of when we upgrade.
Re:Vista- It can't be given away (Score:5, Insightful)
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Probably not. Retail copies of Vista are dismally slow moving off the shelves it appears. People "in the know" aren't buying it. Those buying OEM are still getting Vista. Some of them even like it. I, personally, see no reason to upgrade the OS in my home at this time. I prefer Mandriva and XP Pro. I actually doubt that anyone will notice other than us here on /. but I'll keep watching my local news (and I live in Maine in case you hadn't gathered that) to see if I hear a single mention of it.
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How many people really buy an OS as a boxed copy? People still buy OEM Vista, and people don't care.
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Are you sure about that? Big organizations (such as Universities) that have upgraded their systems to Vista have also seen an increase in their site license fees.
If you have any sources that indicate that the license fees Maine is paying now would have stayed the same if they'd gone to Vista, could you post them, please?
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Only what is in the article. I don't doubt that it will remain the same though. I can call but I doubt VERY much that I'm going to get anyone to go "on the record" with an answer. Either way, they aren't upgrading to Vista which means that it should stay the same regardless, that's kind of the point. If big organizations are upgrading to Vista and having their site license upgraded that is unimportant to this conversation really as we're not upgrading to Vista so I'm not exactly sure where you're going with
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Even WITH the name we skipped Windows ME too. *grins* In all honesty we didn't entirely. Back then our IT was pretty haphazard and I know it ended up on some of the stenographer's desktops and, surprising, they didn't have an issue with it. There were a few systems that worked really well with ME, this is sort of a case and point if you will, and they worked just fine. Maine was buying Acer hardware that was running the AMD K62 (450 MHz as I recall) as a direct from manufacturer product that came optimized
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Could, should, and do.
Umm... Good Choice? (Score:2, Insightful)
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This is all good to a point (Score:2)
... and that point is when Microsoft has successfully convinced hardware makers to not create Windows XP device drivers for their new hardware. This is already starting to happen. Soon, you may not have a Windows XP option of any kind when buying new hardware.
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We don't actually need to upgrade hardware until a few years from now so that won't really apply in this case I'm afraid. They *did* do some hardware upgrades for mobile DOJ/DOC workers this year but downgraded to XP Pro with them in-house. Most everything (probably everything) we have should easily last a couple more years and we have a pile of spare stock should we need it.
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We're not THAT bright. Actually, I suspect the rollout will be in 2010 or so and that things will upgrade "as they can" really. With mainstream support for XP ending officially in 2011 for this contract it shouldn't be too much of a problem. We'll probably be rolling some out in the RTM phase as well. To be honest, that's sort of what worries me. WTF are we to do if Windows 7 turns out to be just Vista by another name? Windows ME was more or less XP Beta. I think we're hoping, betting, that Vista is Windows
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Ayuh. Unless, of course, you wanted the responses posted from someone who can't even find Maine on the map and has a love for one type of software and ignores the value of another?
So, well, you get me. 50%? I'm aiming to look for any questions and assist where I can in answering them if no one else has. My bad for being a constructive person and offering to help where there was something that I'm familiar with. I'm not good enough but there are only a few people from Maine on here and only a few people who
This is a dangerous gamble (Score:2)
I work for an organization which decided several years ago not to upgrade its windows 2000 PCs
to XP. because the win 2000 worked and the IT staff new it well and the upgrade was expensive, show we thought we would just wait a bit for longhorn.
Now in 2008 we are still with win 2000 on many thousnds of PCs and are basiclly forced to "upgrade" to Vista.
Vista is a crummy system, but you never know what comes next?
not that its going to happen in my workplace, but I am all for moving to Linux desktop for at least
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What are you running that won't run on W2K? Your software vendor can't release a W2K support patch for thousands of software installations?
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microsoft has lost its tracks (Score:2, Interesting)
Most of their new operating systems have been home-customer-directed teletubby-like interfaces for home-users.
Yet, 90% of Microsoft customers are corporate. Corporate customers don't care about aero or some fancy gui transparency.
Corporate customers want OS that looks and performs like windows 2000, is as secure as XP and doesn't cause excess load on their IT departments.
Vista and Office 2007 both failed miserabely with these requirements.
Office 2
Re:microsoft has lost its tracks (Score:5, Interesting)
Maine upgraded to Office 2k7 as soon as it was available and, even with the ribbon, the help desk managed pretty easily as I understand. (I know a lot of the IT workers, a bunch of the politicians, and even regularly consume alcohol with a few of them. I will be at my DA's house tomorrow night actually as I want to talk about a buddy of mine who's in a spot of trouble.)
This is more about saying that we have "good enough." It is more about saving the money that would be involved in upgrading systems at this time when we're one broke ass state and no one wants to raise taxes. It is more about saving that money from the hardware and additional training as well as the actual labor involved.
Because the State's IT department is so small they often will hire outside contractors (I have done this) to go into a facility and upgrade/swap out and we can't afford that right now.
From my own perspective, the scary thing is that I don't know if we will be in any better a position to afford this two years from now or not. Pardon my language but, as a State, we're fucked. Our tax burden is already quite high, the lack of people driving due to the gas prices killed a lot of businesses this year, and the lack of revenue has meant that a few important things have had to have been skipped to tighten our proverbial belt.
There are a few signs that things aren't too bad but for each of those there are signs that show a much worse case. We had to cancel our paving jobs (not town or city but State jobs from the DOT) because of the costs associated with them. At the same time our banks (actually a lot of credit unions here) are still loaning money and construction hasn't taken that much of a downswing from what I have seen over the past few years. I did spend a bunch of time driving randomly across the nations and seeing things like halted motel construction across the I-10 corridor in Florida doesn't seem to equate what I'm seeing here.
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I think the version 2 requires JavaScript though I'm not sure what is accidental assuming it was my post you modded up. Then again, well, it isn't too important either way really. But, yeah, I think if you're using the "new" layout that requires JavaScript. For the main page I use the new beta version and for the inside section I use the old version as I was having too many issues with Firefox and the commenting.
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Corporate customers want OS that looks and performs like windows 2000, is as secure as XP and doesn't cause excess load on their IT departments.
It's not that hard to make XP (or even Vista) look like 2000. And I think you can even toggle the relevant settings while slipstreaming service packs so you don't need to do 30 minutes worth of tweaking afterwards on each machine.
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When is XP not good enough?
As far as I could tell 2k was good enough until I started to play games, and I've never found anything that needed XP in the workplace.
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When the administrator privileges are actually checked, perhaps?
I mean just asking for the user to click a button, consdering users in windows are all but trained to click buttons just to make windows disappear just so they can work is the worse possible scenario...
My organisation has been doing this for years.... (Score:5, Interesting)
Servers have also done the same jump, from NT to 2003 and from 2003 to Win 7 Server edition.
We do make money out of it, though, unlike Maine.
Re:My organisation has been doing this for years.. (Score:3, Informative)
In Maine the cycle has been a lot like you describe.
94 386/486 mix with 3.1 and 95 in the middle (this was an odd one)
-- Same era -- DEC stuff still and our start of a love affair with Cisco as I recall
98 (year) to 98 (and then to 98se.)
2002 Win2k and XP
-- Same era -- Cisco prices for support kicked our ass
-- Same era -- Wyse and Citrix moved *back* in
2006 XP/Server 2k3
-- Same era -- Juniper shows up with a beautiful price (I think we run Juniper gear almost entirely in some areas now)
Here's where Microsoft
Another "customer" believes the BS (Score:2)
Why believe that Windows 7 will be better? Wasn't that the promise of Vista?
MS has not delivered its promised features so many times that it makes no sense to believe that Windows 7 will be any different.
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That failed, as did Vista. Now, they are working on Windows 7... the quality of their coding is not going to be particularly better or worse than, but their priorities are going to be substantially different. Another release or two t
Give me a good reason they _need_ Vista (Score:2)
I understand users wanting the newest and greatest, I am like that a lot. I own a Mac Pro which is totally overboard for what I do, but I do it because I can. Home users will always want the newest stuff.
However, when you are talking about a large organization. Upgrading has to be for a reason. Hardware becomes faster, that's a good reason to upgrade. Application x gives new features that our users actually need, then its a good reason to upgrade.
But seriously, what does Vista provide that XP doesn't ?
Cost effectiveness (Score:2)
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Candidate for the Mojave Experiment? (Score:2)
Support personnel suffer (Score:2)
Vista is a disaster. (Score:3, Interesting)
I work for a Very Large Telecom. Nobody is running Vista. It would be too expensive in hardware, training and support. We can do our jobs just fine with XP on cheaper hardware.
Like most, we are 100% Microsoft on the desktop and there are no alternative we can switch to quickly. Exchange and AD are too entrenched. I have a feeling CTO's at some companies see this risk and are evaluating "other options." The problem is the propriety enterprise packages are tried and true on Windows, and it's too expensive to replace all that infrastructure.
Microsoft might force consumers to buy Vista, but I doubt it'll happen for large companies. It would make a lot of people very angry and force large companies to pressure the Enterprise software vendors to write Mac or Linux clients.
It wouldn't surprise me to see Microsoft force their hand, but it could be their undoing if they did.
Re:Vista is a disaster. (Score:4, Insightful)
I work for game developer (small by corporate standards, but big for a developer), with about 150 employees. Most of us are running 64-bit Vista. See, the trick is, though, this was part of a round of hardware updates as well. With our machines (quad core, 4 GB RAM, fast video card, etc), the performance impact of Vista is largely negligible.
Most companies are not running games that demand high-end systems. They're running office machines that calculate spreadsheets, write letters, create powerpoint presentations, track inventory, and play the occasional game of solitude or watch youtube videos with office mates. It's hard to justify upgrading to a new operating system with a lot more overhead when your basic computing requirements haven't changed much. In general, I expect that Vista is likely selling at just slightly over the rate of new Windows-based PCs being sold. There are probably more users that upgrade than downgrade, and most new PCs have Vista on them now.
I think this is mostly a case of unrealistic expectations - the idea that an operating system is so compelling that people will rush out to upgrade. I could have told them that most users with would not feel entirely compelled to upgrade their existing hardware. Users seem much more likely to upgrade their operating system at the same time they upgrade their hardware. And frankly, people are finding it harder to justify upgrading their computers when the only thing that a 4 year old computer can't handle is a) the latest, greatest PC games, or 2) the latest, greatest operating system.
The funny thing, if Microsoft had forecast realistic adoption rates of Vista (at just above the purchase rate of new Windows-based PCs), then they probably could have claimed success. But they all drank the kool-aid since it made their forecasts look so much better if large numbers of people suddenly said "Hey, let's give Microsoft a bunch of money to Microsoft for a new operating system, and I'll get a) better security (uh, shouldn't that be freely available as patches?), b) a slower machine (uh... wait a sec), and c) a shiney new desktop - unless your video card can't handle it, or unless you buy the wrong version of the OS." And from a corporate perspective, even if you're already paying for the software, it still doesn't negate the cost of migrating, retraining, and performance-related issues.
And now, rushing a new version of Windows out guarantees a fragmented Windows market of THREE operating systems (which we developers still have to support, even if you don't, thank you). It's not going to encourage adoption rates any more than Vista did. These guys just don't learn.
2010? (Score:2)
Somehow, I am not very sure MS will keep the deadline.
OTOH, they have announced they are slimming it down to a bare minimum and pushing their downloadable stuff instead.
It's fun to watch how buzzword-compliant they are. "Multi-touch" and "Cloud" are terms they constantly associate with their future product line. It's textbook vaporware tactics at work.
Such a huge disaster... OH WAIT (Score:4, Informative)
Window Vista is such a huge disaster for Microsoft, considering that since it's release, it has consistently sold more than Windows XP in the same timeframe since it's release (ie. amount of sales after 1 year of being on the market for both XP and Vista, after 2 years, etc etc). Truly a horrible mistake one would never want to repeat. Oh wait, nevermind.
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That's because there's a lot more computers in the world than there were in 2001. It's got nothing to do with Microsoft, and a lot to do with economic improvements in India and China.
Why has Maine chosen Windows 7 already? (Score:2, Interesting)
Let me get this straight...
1) Maine doesn't like Vista.
2) Maine can't know much about Windows 7 because it doesn't exist yet.
3) ?????
4) Maine decides it will switch to Windows 7.
5) Profit! (for Microsoft)
So, step 3 may entail:
a) Someone getting a bribe.
b) Someone realizing how happy Microsoft products have made them in the past, and assuming the Vista problems must have been a one-time fluke.
c) Someone thinking that "operating system" means "Windows".
Maine? MS Is The Story Here (Score:2)
A commenter on the article makes the point that Maine's signing an enterprise software license with Microsoft means that Redmond doesn't really lose out on this deal; it simply allows the state to upgrade its equipment and software on its own time.
And Maine is the story here?
How about the tying under license terms, service conditions, and through undocumented APIs and document formats that this implies? Would Maine have an enterprise license for Vista, an operating system they will never install, if there w
Near-disaster? (Score:2)
So Maine have already paid for a it but won't actually be installing (hence no support calls etc.)? Elsewhere, the vast majority of new PCs are sold with it "installed" (even if an XP image is then slapped on either by the vendor or the organisation that bought it).
That's a "disaster" that many businesses would be happy with.
The real reason why business does not like Vista (Score:2)
is the fact that it ships with IE7 and not IE6.
Vista took too long to develop, but during that period too many software vendors wrote bad web interface code for business applications that would only work with IE6 and not IE7, Firefox, Oprah or any other browser. Let us face it, IE6 has known compatibility problems. This problem is compounded by the fact that Microsoft chose not to support IE7 on Windows 2000. Therefore, it did not make sense to repair this bad code if it meant that older machines would im
It isn't just states (Score:2)
Vista not that bad.. (Score:5, Funny)
Maine needs to spend some time in Largo, FL (Score:5, Interesting)
State governments need to return to those days, and the technology is available, and it works. *That* would be a true benefit to taxpayers.
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We use Wyse through Citrix in a number of areas actually. There are still some VERY ancient Dell thin clients out there. Most are Wyse though.
Strange (Score:3, Insightful)
This story strikes me as a bit strange. Maine announces they won't be migrating to Vista, supposedly because it's bad. So far, so good. But then they announce that they _will_ be migrating to Windows 7, which isn't out yet. So there is the possibility that Windows 7 will be even worse (for whatever value matters to Maine) than Vista, but they will migrate to it anyway?
I think what they should have done is compare existing software. If they gain by migrating now, they migrate now, to whatever provides the best result. If they don't gain by migrating now, they don't migrate. Maybe they will migrate to Windows 7 once it's out, but that's a consideration to make once it's actually out.
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Wrong State. Maine isn't pro-anything really. We do have some Linux servers but the office workers use Windows, Office, etc... Maine isn't pro-FOSS so don't bother trying to come here with that sort of message, thanks. We're doing this to save money on training and looking ahead to Windows 7. Vista has its bugs. We're saving money by not re-training and skipping an upgrade. We're not saving the money because of skipping the OS, we're saving it by not having to re-train people for a interim OS and not having
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...we're comfortable with what we have and haven't any reason to change at this time.
Money. Less spent on MS licenses means more for useful projects.
Re:Tipping Point (Score:5, Interesting)
We're already spending it for support. This isn't your average single user license, it is a giant license. It is more cost effective (I forget the name of the program that we're using) to have this than it is to get just out of band support for a variety of licenses. It includes the ability to upgrade at any time. Contrary to popular opinion we've looked at (non-Microsoft funded) the evidence and it would appear to cost more to migrate to a different OS at this time with the support contracts, the effort involved, and the additional toll on the help desk. I'm not seeing any public documentation showing the reasoning but (and I *am* a fan of Linux in many areas) hopefully you can find something if you look hard enough.
We, as a State, do use some CentOS but at the time we were looking at RHEL and Fedora desktops. Driver issues was one of the things that abounded as the existing hardware wasn't supported entirely. As some of the departments are using older Citrix based thin clients from Wyse there were additional concerns though I don't actually recall what those concerns were.
It isn't that it couldn't be done, it is that it was cost-prohibitive to do so. It isn't that it wasn't looked at, it was, it was that it was considered more economical and a wiser choice to remain with their current choice of operating systems. Though some of the servers did migrate to CentOS and, I believe, RHEL in the case of some of the mail servers.
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This isn't your average single user license, it is a giant license. It is more cost effective (I forget the name of the program that we're using) to have this than it is to get just out of band support for a variety of licenses.
A friend of mine has one of those (apparently he knows someone that works at MS). He refers to it as a "Corporate License".
Contrary to popular opinion we've looked at (non-Microsoft funded) the evidence and it would appear to cost more to migrate to a different OS at this time with the support contracts, the effort involved, and the additional toll on the help desk.
Two (or three) words: Vendor Lock-In. Maybe a slow phase-in among the more tech-savvy?
Start pushing FOSS apps (if you haven't already) such as Firefox, OOo, Thunderbird, etc.
I'm not seeing any public documentation showing the reasoning but (and I *am* a fan of Linux in many areas) hopefully you can find something if you look hard enough.
I'll look around.
Driver issues was one of the things that abounded as the existing hardware wasn't supported entirely.
What about now?
And I assume you were looking at Fedora/RHEL because of the compatibility with the CentOS servers? Presumably, SLED/SUSE/openSUSE would work together equally well. Maybe their hardw
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Effective drivers for NICs and Wireless as well as some missing keyboard functionality on the laptops that they were going to buy. I don't have all of the specifics as it's not my job (I'm just a citizen and happen to be involved in a lot of the community programs as a civilian as well as know a bunch of the techs who work for the State having worked for them, gone to school with them, or in one case actually been his old boss) but it was not an option with the current hardware.
Later in the thread I go into
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Yup. Will this make you happy? Hell. I *live* in Maine. I know MANY of the politicians, most of the IT staff, many of the State workers, and have done a great deal of work for MANY of the branches of government and have worked for many departments. I don't consider my opinion or observations to be the only valid ones but would you rather I spoke about something I know about or someone who has no idea what is going on? Would you rather I spoke about something I know nothing about instead?
Yes, yes this *is* a
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Your bias is showing. People smarter than you or I have already looked at it though it was a few years ago. I'm not a huge fan of any particular OS or anything nor am I a fan of any sort of closed vs. open mentality. I just think that people should use what works best for them and there is no right nor is there a wrong. In this case the elected officials (and I can personally vouch that there wasn't any vendor influence that I'm aware of and feel that I'd have likely been aware of it given my ties to the sy
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It should be noted that this is not dedazo [slashdot.org], but a name troll (one of many) created by twitter [slashdot.org] for that user.
twitter has name trolls and lists [slashdot.org] for people who don't hink like him.
Re:Since when did Slashdot get so anti-Microsoft? (Score:4, Funny)
Here's a hint: If you look at Spock, you might notice he doesn't have a beard.
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Unless it is evil-twin Spock [wikipedia.org].
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Re:Little do they know... (Score:5, Interesting)
Can you name a single reputable source that stated that Windows 7 will be based on a "completely new codebase"?
Every single source I've read, internal and external to Microsoft, has explicitly stated it is based on the Vista codebase and is a minor revision of the OS. In fact, there will be no fundamental changes to the low-level OS internals, kernel inclusive, to the point that they are aiming for Vista drivers to work just fine on Windows 7, which should alleviate the driver migration woes that plauged Vista.
I think you should get better news sources.
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And Vista was based off Server 2003, and now shares the same codebase with Server 2008.
Not quite. Xp-64 shares the same codebase as server 2003. I might add this cut of XP is fantastic if you need a 64-bit Windows OS for work and games.
Vista and Server 2008 share the same codebase.
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...expecting any organization to completely rewrite their code for the next version of a major product is ridiculous.
Wasn't that supposed to be exactly what was going to happen with Vista?
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I'm not sure if this is true today and I'm unable to find a source but at one time (2000) it was reported that Maine had more people online (per capita) than any other state and many countries. It is due to the fact that we have nothing to do all winter I'd always expected. People seem to forget this. They are also usually unaware that FTTH started as a roll-out in Maine from Oxford Networks/GWI in the Lewiston/Auburn area.
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Junior, I guarantee that's something you're not going to be hearing.
When Win2k came out, did you hear a lot of people saying that WinME was the "best OS Microsoft has ever released"?
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