sappatoti
Posts: 14844
Joined: 10/30/2006 From: the edge of darkness... Status: offline
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I'm not a big fan of any Windows OS. I had a huge number of difficulties with it ten years ago (OK, it was Windows 98 SE, but still... I couldn't afford NT) that I switched back to the Mac OS (pre-OS X) to continue my production work and never looked back. Despite my personal bias against Windows, I don't believe that it's performance is bad enough to warrant an outright ban. While I may not have used a Windows OS exclusively since the 98 days, I have dabbled here and there with XP and although it still didn't offer me any benefits over my Mac OS, it wasn't that bad. I can't imagine Vista being that bad of an experience... unless Microsoft completely dropped the ball and screwed it up entirely. Instead of omitting a vendor completely from the bidding and purchasing process, how about the state create a specific list of technical requirements regarding what they want? Valid points to add could be specifying a an acceptable limit for the need to reboot due to an OS lockup, how cyber security threats are managed, etc. Put these specs out to bid and allow ALL OS vendors to respond and may the best proposal win. As one writer on C|Net wrote, it sounds like someone had one too many "Blue Screens of Death" and didn't know how to deal with it. Perhaps that someone installed something that he or she probably shouldn't have? Perhaps the staff of that someone didn't keep the AV and other security features updated? Perhaps that someone simply didn't know how to operate his PC (not surprising, really)? If all of these are factors to be considered, put them into a spec list for an RFP, get the bids, and purchase something else that this someone can use.
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Never mind the man on the edge of the darkness... he means no harm... "Community, Identity, Stability." ~ A Brave New World, Aldous Huxley, 1932 If you don't like my attitude, QUIT TALKING TO ME!
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