retroremakes
December 10th, 2009, 22:40
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/4/2009/12/500x_bsod-usaf.jpg (http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/4/2009/12/bsod-usaf.jpeg)Major Tom (not his real name) is a ground controller at an United States Air Force Base. He wrote to us because he and his military colleagues are extremely frustrated with Windows Vista (http://gizmodo.com/tag/windowsvista/). Here's his hated BSOD and his story.
I'm so tired of this. I can't believe that I'm part of the most advanced and expensive military organization in the world (http://gizmodo.com/5320681/this-is-where-each-of-your-1421-trillion-dollars-is-going-in-2010), but I can't keep my computer from crashing all the time. All because of a faulty ATI driver. I'm not the only one at the base with the same problem. Or outside the base: 90% of the Department of Defense use Windows machines for high priority work on a day-to-day basis.
I am a ground controller at the [EDITED] Air Force Base, currently using a Excel spreadsheet to control critical information on our fighter jets. Through the day I have to fill and report on many things, which have to be available in real time, at any time. When I got this new computer I was happy until, all of the sudden, crash. Blue Screen of Death. Information lost, time wasted, you know the drill.
It turns out that we have a fault with the ATI driver. Unfortunately, we no longer have any way to fix this ourselves, since all administration duties are handled through an IT desk in a different country, were they create a work order that can take weeks, depending on its priority.
So there you have it. We Fight for Freedom, but Windows Vista salutes us one way or another in the downward direction every other day. Sad, but true.
Honestly, I don't know what surprises me more about this story. The fact that he is having such problems, that the USAF uses Excel for any task, or that their technical problems haves to go through a help desk in another country.
Do you have other computing or tech support horror stories? Write to us.
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I'm so tired of this. I can't believe that I'm part of the most advanced and expensive military organization in the world (http://gizmodo.com/5320681/this-is-where-each-of-your-1421-trillion-dollars-is-going-in-2010), but I can't keep my computer from crashing all the time. All because of a faulty ATI driver. I'm not the only one at the base with the same problem. Or outside the base: 90% of the Department of Defense use Windows machines for high priority work on a day-to-day basis.
I am a ground controller at the [EDITED] Air Force Base, currently using a Excel spreadsheet to control critical information on our fighter jets. Through the day I have to fill and report on many things, which have to be available in real time, at any time. When I got this new computer I was happy until, all of the sudden, crash. Blue Screen of Death. Information lost, time wasted, you know the drill.
It turns out that we have a fault with the ATI driver. Unfortunately, we no longer have any way to fix this ourselves, since all administration duties are handled through an IT desk in a different country, were they create a work order that can take weeks, depending on its priority.
So there you have it. We Fight for Freedom, but Windows Vista salutes us one way or another in the downward direction every other day. Sad, but true.
Honestly, I don't know what surprises me more about this story. The fact that he is having such problems, that the USAF uses Excel for any task, or that their technical problems haves to go through a help desk in another country.
Do you have other computing or tech support horror stories? Write to us.
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