German armed forces ban Microsoft software

[MadRat]

Its also unbelievable that a submarine would come up under a Japanese fishing boat in an American Fishing Territory. The boat wasn't exactly in an area that was open for the public. The Coast Guard had put notices out to ships in the area several times that day. The accident wasn't just the submarine commander's fault.

 

[gtd2000]

Mad Rat
I think you are missing the point - have you read about submarine technology?
It's mind-blowing - if it's true that is!

I'm 110% sure that if it was not the fault of the submarine there would have been no way that the US would have admitted responsibility for the accident - which they did to my knowledge - can you imagine the lawsuits?

I may not have the full facts though admittedly.

 

[skace]

<< The reality is that they were just &quot;thieves&quot; stealing all the land from the North American Indians. >>



Woa, don't go overboard...

I hate to put it this way, but TECHNICALLY, Native Americans don't believe in ownership of the land. We cheated them out of it, not stole it. And at the time of aquiring this land we were still closely tied to Britain. So you are basically trashing America and England .

 

[NakaNaka]

Definite paranoia. Definite Laughter. Still laughing. Ok maybe it isn't that funny but it is pretty funny.

 

[gtd2000]

skace - I have no problem with who was actually to blame

The quest for the truth is more important - we &quot;Brits&quot; had concentration camps in South Africa long before the Germans ever put them into action.

And no - these were not for the blacks they were for the Boers.

What a pity we were not as far sighted as the N.A. Indian

 

[gtd2000]

Madrat,
They were even in the wrong location - gosh all that technology gone to waste - jeez.....



<< Coordinates obtained from the Coast Guard show that the Greenville shot out of the water during the &quot;emergency main ballast blow&quot; 10 miles due south of Diamond Head crater on Oahu, and two miles east of the training area. >>





<< The training area, marked as a &quot;submarine test and trial area&quot; on National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration charts, is a 14-by-4-mile rectangular area off Oahu. At its closest point, the northeast corner, it is within three miles of the Oahu coast. The training area has been marked on navigation charts for at least 30 years. Commercial and recreational craft can travel through but are advised to be particularly cautious. >>



Source

 

[Mingon]

GTD2000, you must remeber that army technology is actually around 2 years behind commercial technology, due to the extensive testing required and the lengthy proqurement process. Even in the area I am involved in, from identification of requirement to customer delivery is around 12 months on average.

 

[rahvin]

<<GTD2000, you must remeber that army technology is actually around 2 years behind commercial technology, due to the extensive testing required and the lengthy proqurement process. Even in the area I am involved in, from identification of requirement to customer delivery is around 12 months on average.>>

The apache helicopter has had a system installed in the cockpit that tracks the gun to where ever the pilot looks (not head movement, tracks his/her eyes) for about 10 years. This system was recently (about a year) deployed in Lasik corrective eye surgery. The first infared night scopes and headgear were in use by the military before the public even knew they existed. The GPS network was deployed and in use 10 years before public devices showed up. The millitary developed the internet 20 years before you knew what it was. The first wearable computers will be deployed in wide use by the millitary.

Maybe in the UK they are behind because they buy everything on the open market, here in the US the tech is usually quite a bit ahead of the private sector (unless your talking about boots, in which case they are 40 years behind).

 

[Mingon]

In the UK the defense sector doesnt just buy from the commercial sector, where I work we are involved from idea stage through the development and then into the production/manufacturing stage. Unfortunately due to the slightly stricter regulations that the UK MOD place on us it is a long process. The US is slightly different in that they can bend the rules slightly easier, an example are insensitive munitions in the UK an insensitve munitions is something that will not explode upon dropping for example in the US the definition of a insensitive munition can mean HE in a concrete bunker. Both ways have their advantages/disadvantages but sometimes a longer development process is required when say a 50 year life span is needed.

 

[gtd2000]

Mingon,
I'm ex-army myself, if it's now 2 years behind then that's not too bad.

During my &quot;time&quot; I would have thought 10 years was about right

The acceptable truth is that there will always be a lengthy timeframe to make things &quot;squaddy-proof&quot; - even then most equipment is totally &quot;over-hyped&quot; and not at all suitable to the environment where the equipment is to be used once it is deployed. I'm not talking about operating systems obviously although that no doubt will still apply. The equipment is often quite far removed from the demonstration examples which secured the sales also.

The best examples I can think about from my &quot;time&quot; was the &quot;Challenger&quot; tank - which was very lucky to make it 3 miles down the road without breaking down - &quot;supposedly&quot; it performed very well in the Gulf - 1000's of miles from it's original theatre in Europe.

The &quot;SA80&quot; - &quot;The worlds most advanced battlefield rifle&quot;, that's what the posters said as far as I can remember when it came out. The only thing that was &quot;advanced&quot; about it was how it continually jammed the &quot;new&quot; 5.56mm rounds in the magazine. It also gave me the feeling of a &quot;meccano&quot; toy and that top cover for access to the gas rod would continually spring open whilst sprinting etc. This was later modified with the use of tape or an elastic band - lol. How this was never noticed during trials is beyond me?

As Rahvin has mentioned though - there are many items which will be available to the military long before the public gets to see any benefit of the technology. The main reason for this is simple - there is big money to be made from the sales of defence equipment.

As far as I remember this was Britains biggest industry.



<< unless your talking about boots, in which case they are 40 years behind >>


This is quite funny because although I probably agree with you on the technology that goes into &quot;civilian&quot; boots being superior - I still prefer wearing my old assault boots - reason? - your feet do not sweat!
All these modern boots with &quot;wicks away sweat&quot; crap just seem to make you feet sweat even more. Give me a pair of natural leather upper and rubber soles anyday And compared to the original high-leg boots these things are the weight of training shoes anyway

 

[Mingon]

GTD2000, Dont forget the sa80 couldnt be fired by left-handed people without getting shells in their face. the company I work for you would probably remember as RARDE can get most things into service within 2 years unless it is a long development program in which case you are looking at between 7-15 years, the main sticking point nowadays is the requirement for backwards compatability which has an effect on the technology movement. If you are ex-army and live in scotland did you ever go to Kirkcudbright ranges at all? lovely place in the summer not nice any other time.

 

[gtd2000]

No I've been living in Hong Kong for the past 5.5 years.

I spent nearly all my time overseas essentially, apart from training and the odd tour within the UK.

Yes I remember the RARDE name now that you mention it

When I was based in Cyprus many people mentioned that &quot;we&quot; should have bought the Colt M16 rather than the SA80 - at least it was well proven in Vietnam etc, and would have been dirt cheap by comparison.

Never mind - Governments don't buy or pay for anything that is based on sense or logic

 

[MadRat]

M16? What was wrong with the late Bren designs?

 

[gtd2000]

Hehe
Actually most of the &quot;modern&quot; rifle designs are actually very old indeed

 

[gtd2000]

For those of you that don't know - this is an SA80

 

[Jhhnn]

Whew, gettin' a little OT, huh?

So far as the original post goes, I'm surprised that any foreign govt. uses windows, particularly for anything that can connect to the outside. The liabilities inherent in any &quot;proprietary&quot; software are enormous. If you can't dissect the code, then you obviously can't understand how it really works or what the true capabilities are.

There's the hack that lets you track your email(and replies) thru the receiver's intranet as it is forwarded. Talk about getting an edge in negotiations! What if it were part of their O/S? Anybody think it would be detectable, let alone stoppable?

The Germans have a right to be paranoid- being allies is all fine and good, but giving away the farm or having to worry about the other guy's security is another story.