US Military Signs Modernization Deal With Microsoft

Dupple writes with news that Microsoft has signed an agreement with the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, and the Defense Information Systems Agency to modernize the software those organizations use. According to Microsoft, the deal will cover 75% of all Department of Defense personnel, and bring to them the latest versions of SharePoint, Office, and Windows. The deal awards Microsoft $617 million, which is after discounts to the software totaling in the tens of millions. Interestingly, DISA's senior procurement executive said, "[The agreement] recognizes the shift to mobility. Microsoft is committed to making sure that the technology within the agreement has a mobile-first focus, and we expect to begin to take advantage of Microsoft’s mobile offerings as part of our enterprise mobility ecosystem."

Re:Hope it's not windows 8

[idontgno]

Too bad. It most certainly is:

As part of this agreement, all three organizations can begin using the newest versions of Microsoft products, including Microsoft Office 2013, SharePoint 2013 Enterprise and Windows 8. The ability to standardize on SharePoint 2013 Enterprise will unlock new levels of cross-agency information sharing through improved enterprise search and social communications features while powering advanced business intelligence and reporting capabilities. Access to Office 2013 will equip each organization with the latest versions of productivity tools that personnel rely on every day, including Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft PowerPoint. The increasingly mobile DoD workforce will also use Windows 8 to empower productivity from any location, and any supported device, while taking advantage of enhanced security. The U.S. Armyâ(TM)s Network Enterprise Technology Command headquartered at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., and the Air Force Program Executive Office for Business and Enterprise Systems at Maxwell Air Force Base-Gunter Annex in Alabama, have been working closely with Microsoft on achieving Army Golden Master and Air Force Standard Desktop Configuration compliance for Windows 8.

As the names imply, those two named configurations (Army Golden Master and Air Force Standard Desktop Configuration) are the standard desktop deploy images for the overwhelming majority of the normal day-to-day systems for those respective two services... and they're definitely transitioning to 8. So yaaay. I definitely picked a good time to get the hell out of the service.

Paperwork the bigger problem...

[TheDarAve]

The DoD already has access through contract to that software. The problem isn't access / purchase of the software, the limitation is the security paperwork needed to USE any of that software! ( https://acc.dau.mil/CommunityBrowser.aspx?id=22645 [dau.mil] ) The security paperwork that is required can be long, very long, sometimes HUNDREDS of pages long, and take *YEARS* to get reviewed and approved! The DoD just keeps ADDING bureaucratic layers to this process every year as well! There's a point where the security paperwork just causes more harm than good. By the time you get the software solution engineered and approved, its already most of the way to being completely obsolete! You want to fix the software in the DoD? Fix the process that governs it! Streamline it, cut out the what has by now become multiple layers of unneeded CRAP that's only there because a spot failed at some point, and the solution they came up with simply involved just adding more layers to an already unruly behemoth!

TL;DR - Good luck M$! By the time you get Windows 8 approved, it'll be 4-8 years later.

Re:Hope it's not windows 8

[LordLimecat]

There is no problem that Sharepoint cant solve.

The only concern is all the other problems it creates.

Re:Hope it's not windows 8

[PCM2]

What I want to see is a real Web browser as a Metro app.

Errr, well you know, Windows 8 ships with a Metro flavor of IE 10, and with recent versions of Chrome you can opt to have that run as a Metro app, too. I think Firefox might still be working on it. But there doesn't seem to be anything stopping you from trying one of the others out and seeing how it works for you.

Re:Too late

[turbidostato]

"When youre dealing with a $600 million contract, I have a feeling the customer gets pretty much whatever they want."

As in "absolutly nothing"?
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/11/15/0119212/us-air-force-scraps-erp-project-after-1-billion-spent [slashdot.org]