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12/11/09
Also, I'm certain Vista, and maybe Office will have warnings in the user agreements that explicitly state they are not for use in any mission critical systems. For that, you should be using a professional RTOS like QNX or something. Vista is for home and small business users, not national armies.
So really, it's the fault of whoever thought using those systems would be a good idea... this is just marginally better than using Windows NT to control an aircraft carrier...
12/11/09
Thank you and I will step off of my soapbox for now.
12/11/09
12/14/09
12/11/09
Blue screens of death are caused by faulty hardware or bad components of the OS. Not some sort of disguised hate that Microsoft has for you. Blame ATI for being so lazy with freaking drivers. Get mad at who's truly at fault. Get mad at the fact that supposedly your super 1337 advanced military base doesn't have an IT guy at hand to fix these issues for you when they arrive on a daily basis.
Because honestly, all this misguided hate is annoying and also hurting Microsoft which believe it or not is a good company who has actually created some innovations of their own. Windows Vista was truly an advanced operating system of it's time and it was shot down and ignored by the business world as well as ridiculed by closed minded idiots becuase nVidia and ATI can't get their shit together with drivers.
This is ridiculous. Didn't you study propaganda when you were in high school? Because that's what you're spreading into people's minds to contribute to the neglected and crucified OS known as NT 6. Please, just stop it. I can't take hearing this crap about Vista anymore. You people should know where to point your blame at. If not, don't bother with computers.
12/11/09
uh, that would be Microsoft. but feel free to blame the hardware manufacturer for being 'lazy' because they haven't found the time or money to devote to rewriting drivers for every model hardware device they've manufactured in the past 5 years.
12/11/09
What I'm getting at is that it's not the OSes fault if someone writes code that trips over itself and blows up at the drop of a hat. If MS never changed the way they do things, we'd still be using Windows 3.11 because it supports all of our drivers, and we'd still be falling victim to (more of the) security holes that have been around for years and years because fixing them would break old drivers - like printer drivers in Vista when they changed them from being in kernel mode to user mode.
So ATI should either find the time and money to support the OS, or simply state that they do not support it at all. If they release a half-baked one that crashes the system... it is their fault specifically.
12/11/09
Unfortunately, we have no way of fixing this problem, ourselves, because our IT department is located in another country, who we're currently at war with.
This is SUPPOSED to be the 21st Century and I'm falling very behind on my work. It's my job to end world hunger and save babies from burning buildings. I PUT MY LIFE ON THE LINE EVERY DAY AND THIS IS HOW WINDOWS THANKS ME!!!
I will never buy another Microsoft product again, and neither should you.
12/11/09
;ยบ{P
12/11/09
Are you implying that this problem is somehow simply fixed? You do realize that military IT (and IT in just about any major company) does not allow regular users to download or install things like drivers right?
12/11/09
12/11/09
But still Windows = BAAADDD.
Explain how this would be any different if he was running Mac or Linux. A piece of hardware or a driver fails, IT is nowhere to be found. You are unable to solve the problem yourself. Do you Boycott Apple products, now?
12/11/09
And can you imagine if lives were at stake? An accident where lives were lost would get someone in IT over there instantly to ensure the problem didn't happen again.
But why does anyone care. This guys manager probably doesn't care to get any push for a fix as well as his manager above him nor does the outsourced IT guys. Everyone is on their own time and nothing will get done until someone gets in trouble for something.
Sorry Major Tom. But your problem is not your computer which is an easy fix. Its your higher management/IT/clusterf'ck that is the problem.
12/11/09
12/11/09
12/11/09
12/11/09
To answer some of other replies... No, your average user on a USAF computer has virtually NO admin rights to his/her computer... Trust me when I say, 'there is a good reason for this'...
12/11/09
12/11/09
All he has to do is update the driver, or just get a new Vid card.
Either way, he has a much bigger world of choice BECAUSE he's running windows, in that there are 100 different solutions to his problem, none of which he has even bothered to try, rather, he would instead write an article about how it's someone else's fault.
I feel like I'm listening to someone complain about how shitty their car is, when it's their own fault. It's not Toyota's fault you don't change your oil and replace brake pads.
12/11/09
12/11/09
Fanboism versus common sense. I've only seen 2 BSoDs in the last 3 years and they were both due to a hardware failure (graphics card). Swap out the card, and Holy Crap, it works again.
I'm no fan of Vista, either, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. But seriously, is that how you solve all your problems? by writing hate mail?
12/11/09
For one as an Air Force IT Tech we do not let users do anything on their machines besides use normal software. They are not allowed to install anything or swap out parts. We have trained people to do this and do not want users killing computers and costing us more time and money.
Yes there is an easy fix for this, and I'm sure if he is patient his trouble ticket will be worked by the AMERICANS that it goes to. We do not send our IT issues to countries that we are at war with nor do we outsource any of our IT work.
Please get your facts straight before replying and stating that he could fix the issue.
12/11/09
Easy fix OR hard fix. Do it yourself, have someone else do it.
Explain why this is a Vista problem.
Tell me straight up, if you were using a Linux/Mac machine and a driver failed or a piece of hardware fried causing a fatal error, would you boycott Linux/Mac? Would you write a Giz article and complain to all the readers on how Apple keeps standing in the way of you defending your country?
12/11/09
#tips
12/11/09
P.S. I do acknowledge that Vista is a pile of ass gunk and I'm still glad I never upgraded from XP and can make the jump to the superior 7 instead. But bash it where it's due, not where it's mildly related.
12/11/09
12/11/09
12/11/09
12/11/09
Yeah I don't know what the authors problem with the USAF using Excel is. It's completely boring software but no way in hell would I deny its usefulness.
12/11/09
12/11/09
12/11/09
We all currently use XP - there are few machines with vista in the entire building.
We are fortunate enough to have our own systems flight (tech support guys) in our squadron. They are around 5 days a week, and are on call on the weekends (since we're 24/7 365 days a year).
I think the only thing so far that has saved us from Vista on this base is the cunning systems guys that seem to be holding out as long as possible - they know the switch would be unbearable. On the operations floor alone, we have at least 100 computers running 24/7. I think the only way to "upgrade" the OPS floor to vista would be to shut down operations and hook up entirely new computers - which just is not going to happen. The only way, it seems, we'll move from XP is if the Squadron Commander deems it ABSOLUTELY necessary - which is just not true.
Another thing that keeps us from Vista is the specialized software the weather field uses. Our special radar, satellite, and forecasting tools may not even work with Vista. So we're hard pressed to find any real advantages.
If taxpayers knew the brutality of inefficiency the AF faces every day, you would hardly want to pay your taxes.
12/11/09
12/11/09
It's a UK USAF base. Largest USAF base in the UK apparently.
12/11/09
12/10/09
While I was still enlisted I had the privilege of taking some of the Excel spreadsheets that were being used in deployed environments and turning them into ASP.net/C# applications. While doing this I've learned that the Air Force relies heavily on the application, with uses ranging from tracking ration cards for alcohol in mostly dry countries, tracking sorties and briefing them to command staff, and keeping up with Survivor Radios that were spread throughout the theaters.
The main reason why there are so many of these excel spreadsheets is that the people who make them are not usually programmers and they are writing them to make their jobs easier while they are stationed wherever they are. It can also make it easier to train the next guy that comes into your spot in 4 to 6 months (if deployed) or longer if it's an actually assignment (1 to 2 years) to do the job that you were doing. After a bit of time they become so ingrained in the job that they don't go away because no one knows how to do the job the old fashioned way and then a programmer needs to come in to make an actual application to do the task.
As for the offsite IT business, I'm pretty sure thats bogus. Even tenant units have a small IT shop that can handle software installs and ghosting of a PC. I also noticed that this specific setup has 3 monitors which means its an HP computer with an ATI video card and amd processor. It also means that it's using the ATI extend features to use the onboard video as well as a PCI-E card to push up to 4 monitors and with any OS that can be a little iffy. But as many have mentioned this is a driver issue and can be updated very easily (and possible by the user going through the 'Run Advertised Programs' tool in the control panel.)
I just get so fed up with how people immediately blame the OS or the IT guys or whatever when it comes to this stuff because really all it takes it a little bit of poking around asking the right people. If this was as mission critical as he says it is I'm sure any O-5 or above could get an IT guy at the PC within the hour or at least the permissions given to the user to upgrade the driver himself. Now I work with weather software (IGrADS for any air force/army people out there) and if something goes down on operations the doors all fly open if we need something for guys in the field. The guys on the front lines in harms way are our mission 24/7/365 and nothing stands in the way of helping them out.
12/11/09
As a fellow programmer I commend you for a well written post. Excel does have it's uses though and sometimes it's not worthwhile writing an application when a simple spreadsheet with a few macros will do the same job.
12/11/09