US Army switching to Apple?

[Data Holmes]

http://www.army.mil/-news/2010/03/2...-to-discuss-hand-held-solutions-for-soldiers/

CUPERTINO, Calif. -- Leaders from the Army's technology command visited Apple, Inc. here to discuss the use of Apple products in Army business and battlefield operations.


"Apple technologies offer unique and proven solutions with intuitive designs that allow users to learn quickly without a training manual," said Ron Szymanski, CERDEC's lead computer scientist on the project. "The Army would like to leverage Apple's experience when designing military applications."


The meeting ended with plans for future technical discussions between the organizations.

So, apple iPhone looks to become the US Army's Tricorder officially...

 

[CuttingEdge100]

Data Holmes,

Sounds about right

 

[clint g]

You know its funny. I was down at the Army Signal School and they had apple computers running in the computer laps with OSX. I left for a week and then came back. All the computers were reformatted to operate windows vista, My mind is still trying to make sense of this

 

[David cgc]

This just reminds me of the time Windows NT crashed a Navy ship. Microsoft said it was user error, caused because a engineer accidentally entered a "0" into a database but, seriously. If a single number in the wrong place crashes your entire network and leaves your warship dead in the water, it's not the user's fault.

 

[Gaseous Anomaly]

You know its funny. I was down at the Army Signal School and they had apple computers running in the computer laps with OSX. I left for a week and then came back. All the computers were reformatted to operate windows vista, My mind is still trying to make sense of this

The thing is the Navy and AF use Windows based software on the majority of their equipment. Since the Army relies on the Navy and AF for close air support their software needs to be compatible.

 

[clint g]

You know its funny. I was down at the Army Signal School and they had apple computers running in the computer laps with OSX. I left for a week and then came back. All the computers were reformatted to operate windows vista, My mind is still trying to make sense of this

The thing is the Navy and AF use Windows based software on the majority of their equipment. Since the Army relies on the Navy and AF for close air support their software needs to be compatible.

I'm aware of that they need to have compatibility (though you would be flat out shocked at the stupid shit that isnt compatible with each other). That's why I was shocked to see all these apples on a army base. Of course, this leads to the question, why buy apples just to get rid of their OS and install Vista? For the most part the Army uses Dells so I just couldn't figure it out. To this day I still haven't figured it out.

 

[Rii]

It's to go with the $500 hammers. /rimshot

This just reminds me of the time Windows NT crashed a Navy ship. Microsoft said it was user error, caused because a engineer accidentally entered a "0" into a database but, seriously. If a single number in the wrong place crashes your entire network and leaves your warship dead in the water, it's not the user's fault.

... and it's not Microsoft's fault either. Fault tolerance should be a basic design principle of all military hardware. As a testbed such was likely ignored in favour of efficient validation of capabilities, but in the unlikely event that it was representative of a deployed system a whole bunch of people should've been fired. And not at Microsoft.

 

[Deks]

You know its funny. I was down at the Army Signal School and they had apple computers running in the computer laps with OSX. I left for a week and then came back. All the computers were reformatted to operate windows vista, My mind is still trying to make sense of this

The thing is the Navy and AF use Windows based software on the majority of their equipment. Since the Army relies on the Navy and AF for close air support their software needs to be compatible.

I'm aware of that they need to have compatibility (though you would be flat out shocked at the stupid shit that isnt compatible with each other). That's why I was shocked to see all these apples on a army base. Of course, this leads to the question, why buy apples just to get rid of their OS and install Vista? For the most part the Army uses Dells so I just couldn't figure it out. To this day I still haven't figured it out.

Is there a possibility that they think how hardware that comes with Apple computers is better?
Perhaps they are sticking to the premise: 'Expensive is better'.

To be honest, Apple DOES use most expensive pieces of hardware inside their computers.
Which is one of the reasons why they cost so much.

However, it's a misconception, because low priced hardware can be just as good (quality wise) as highest priced hardware.
It comes down to how the hardware in question is being treated/used (although manufacturer is also responsible initially to make sure it works).

 

[Rii]

It's right there in the OP: the Army is interested in leveraging Apple's expertise wrt UI design.

 

[Gaseous Anomaly]

The thing is the Navy and AF use Windows based software on the majority of their equipment. Since the Army relies on the Navy and AF for close air support their software needs to be compatible.

I'm aware of that they need to have compatibility (though you would be flat out shocked at the stupid shit that isnt compatible with each other). That's why I was shocked to see all these apples on a army base. Of course, this leads to the question, why buy apples just to get rid of their OS and install Vista? For the most part the Army uses Dells so I just couldn't figure it out. To this day I still haven't figured it out.

Is there a possibility that they think how hardware that comes with Apple computers is better?
Perhaps they are sticking to the premise: 'Expensive is better'.

To be honest, Apple DOES use most expensive pieces of hardware inside their computers.
Which is one of the reasons why they cost so much.

However, it's a misconception, because low priced hardware can be just as good (quality wise) as highest priced hardware.
It comes down to how the hardware in question is being treated/used (although manufacturer is also responsible initially to make sure it works).

I don't know about the Army but the Navy wants to be able to go to any electronics or computer hardware store and buy parts and stuff. The guys I work with do 99% of all repairs on their avionics and computers.

 

[Deks]

If that's the case, why not simply use PC's?
Apple is not exactly known for it's upgrade-ability ... or they might have changed this policy?

 

[clint g]

If that's the case, why not simply use PC's?
Apple is not exactly known for it's upgrade-ability ... or they might have changed this policy?

In the case of the Signal School, the only possible explanations I was able to think up was

a-They were a donation from either Apple or some other organization

or

b-It was an experiment to see if Apple computers could be used successfully in an Army environment

Either way, I wasn't to thrilled with it and a bunch of issues cropped up as a result.

 

[Deckerd]

You know its funny. I was down at the Army Signal School and they had apple computers running in the computer laps with OSX. I left for a week and then came back. All the computers were reformatted to operate windows vista, My mind is still trying to make sense of this

The thing is the Navy and AF use Windows based software on the majority of their equipment. Since the Army relies on the Navy and AF for close air support their software needs to be compatible.

I'm aware of that they need to have compatibility (though you would be flat out shocked at the stupid shit that isnt compatible with each other). That's why I was shocked to see all these apples on a army base. Of course, this leads to the question, why buy apples just to get rid of their OS and install Vista? For the most part the Army uses Dells so I just couldn't figure it out. To this day I still haven't figured it out.

I'm still getting my head round why I get MSWord documents that my MSWord can't read. THAT is beyond stupid.

Re your Vista puzzle. I've been able to run MS operating systems on my Macs for over 10 years. It's not pretty but it happens.

 

[clint g]

The puzzle isn't that it's possible. I know that it's very much possible to do so. The puzzle is, why spend money to purchase a Mac and then reformat it and install Vista. If you're going to go through all of that trouble, then there are far cheaper computers out there that already came with Vista that the Army could have purchased. There is a reason why the Army purchases so many dell computers. They're inexpensive and they come with Windows. Apples are much more expensive and come with an OS that the Army doesn't support. Logistically, it didn't make sense unless the Army either got them for free or they were experimenting with OSX. Either way, the Army must not have been satisfied because the IT guys went and changed everything (and screwed shit up in the process as well)

 

[Deckerd]

Dennis will be along in a minute to high five you, clint g

 

[clint g]

lol if it makes you feel better, I don't have any real issue with Apple per se. Just the government spending money on something, just to kill it by installing a lack-luster OS on it