People often forget that a few years ago IBM invested over US$1 billion porting Linux to run on IBM's AS/400 and S/390 big iron machines, and given IBM is a huge supplier of computer hardware and services to the US government small wonder why you see Linux being installed on many military systems.
Ping! Do you have a pic of Tux in fatigues? LOL
Wednesday, June 25, 2003
Microsoft wins biggest order in its history $470 million Army software deal covers 494,000 computers
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF AND NEWS SERVICES
Microsoft Corp. has won a six-year contract worth more than $470 million to provide software to the U.S. Army, the biggest order ever for the company's programs.
The deal covers 494,000 desktop computers, Microsoft spokesman Keith Hodson said. The Army will buy the software from a Microsoft reseller, Softmart, based in Downingtown, Pa. Hodson declined to say how the companies will divide the revenue.
The Defense Department has questioned the security of Microsoft and rival products in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
One of the department's server computers was attacked in March using a flaw in Microsoft's Windows program. The contract demonstrates that the Army has decided that Microsoft's security is sufficient, said Rob Enderle, an analyst at Forrester Research Inc.
"It looks like whatever that problem was, it wasn't great enough to stop the sale, or it was fixed," Enderle said. "The Army wouldn't buy this stuff if it still had exposures they couldn't mitigate."
In fact, Army leaders "stated openly that they put a lot of faith in the security of our platform," Hodson said, citing Microsoft's overall security model, its Trustworthy Computing initiative, and the enhanced security features in its Windows operating systems.
Full article here...