FAA May Ditch Vista For Linux 359
An anonymous reader writes "Another straw in the wind: following last week's news that the US Department of Transportation is putting a halt on upgrades to Windows Vista, Office 2007, and Internet Explorer 7, today comes word that the Federal Aviation Administration may ditch Vista and Office in favor of Google's new online business applications running on Linux-based hardware. (The FAA is part of the DOT.) The FAA's CIO David Bowen told InformationWeek he's taking a close look at the Premier Edition of Google Apps as he mulls replacements for the agency's Windows XP-based desktop computers. Bowen cited several reasons why he finds Google Apps attractive. 'From a security and management standpoint that would have some advantages,' he said."
Will never happen (Score:5, Informative)
Google Enterprise Professional Program (Score:3, Informative)
Google Enterprise Professional partners are product experts who provide value-added services or products to Google customers. As a Google Enterprise Professional, you'll have the ability to reach Google's rapidly growing customer base. We'll also provide you with either your own Google Search Appliance for development or a set of Google Apps Premier Edition user accounts for your own use. Plus you'll receive in-depth product training.
Already there (Score:5, Informative)
FAA is outsourcing the whole flight services infrastructure to Lockheed. A rep from Lockheed gave a presentation to our local EAA chapter on the new system and it's rather cool. Each person gets a multi-head display and all the software is running on Linux. I don't recall the distro. So when you call in for a weather report or to check if there are TFRs in your flight path, you will be talking to a guy running Linux. It makes sense for the FAA to switch because they will likely want access to the same software. The only downside is that there will be fewer of these people, so you may be talking to someone far away who doesn't know the local area and local weather.
Re:Google apps/security? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:But Google's gmail has been cracked (Score:2, Informative)
Some are recent. [engadget.com]
Both are declared "fixed," but it's a bit unsettling. Contact lists and email are one thing, highly sensitive documents are another.
Re:Will never happen (Score:3, Informative)
Re:training (Score:2, Informative)
Re:I agree. This is a _HORRIBLE_ idea (Score:4, Informative)
But as others have said here, Google Documents doesn't even have Find & Replace capabilities yet. (They only have a "Replace All" option and even that is "experimental").
This is the future, I think. I really do. But not today. Not yet. It's just not ready.
"FAA May Ditch Vista For Linux" ? (Score:3, Informative)
That's like saying: "I like Hondas better than Fords because the gas tank is made with different materials."
Re:training (Score:3, Informative)
As a private pilot, I can happily support this. Really. Air traffic control is excellent, and available just about everywhere in the USA. Navigation aids (VOR, etc) are available just about anywhere that you'd ever want to fly, ATC is widely available just about anywhere that might resemble a proximity to civilization.
Not that I agree with every one of their decisions, and there are certainly warts here and there, but it really is generally a well thought-out and well enforced system with an excellent safety record.
Think about it: some small, 2-seat private plane crashes somewhere 3 states away, and it's frequently on the 6 o'clocke news. But it's unlikely that you would even find out about a similar-sized automobile that fatally crashes one block from your house.
Re:training (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Only minor training required (Score:2, Informative)