“FAA chief information officer David Bowen said 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 and laptops,” Paul McDougall reports for InformationWeek.
“Bowen cited several reasons why he finds Google Apps attractive. ‘It’s a different sort of computing strategy,’ he said. ‘It takes the desktop out of the way so you’re running a very thin client. From a security and management standpoint that would have some advantages,'” McDougall reports.
McDougall reports, “Google launched Google Apps Premier Edition last month at a price of $50 per user, per year. It features online e-mail, calendaring, messaging, and talk applications, as well as a word processor and a spreadsheet. The launch followed Google’s introduction of a similar suite aimed at consumers in August. The new Premier Edition, however, offers enhancements, including 24×7 support, aimed squarely at corporate and government environments.”
“Bowen said he’s in talks with the aviation safety agency’s main hardware supplier, Dell Computer, to determine if it could deliver Linux-based computers capable of accessing Google Apps through a non-Microsoft browser once the FAA’s XP-based computers pass their shelf life,” McDougall reports.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Once the FAA’s XP-based computers pass their shelf life, they should be replaced with very competively-priced, and often less expensive, Apple Macs – the only personal computers capable of running Mac OS X, Linux, and Windows natively and/or via fast virtualization (Google lists Apple’s Safari as a supported browser for Google Apps or use Firefox on the Macs). Maximum bang for the buck means Apple Mac. This is obvious and logical – which explains why a government official isn’t considering it.
Contact info:
David Bowen
FAA Chief Information Officer
Orville Wright Bldg. (FOB10A)
FAA National Headquarters
Room Number 602
800 Independence Ave., SW
Washington, DC 20591
202-493-4570
Online email form (use “other” for Category field): http://faa.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/faa.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php
Related article:
US DOT, FAA ban ‘upgrading’ to Windows Vista, Explorer 7, Office 2007 – March 02, 2007
@David
Please do not paint everyone in the Mac community with the same brush. We are composed of all kinds with one thing in common, that is using a Mac. Well….add keenly intelligent to that.
Microsoft has never had a real competitor or rival. Apple is now a true competitor and Microsoft does not have the ability to compete. They’re used to using their monopoly muscle or bank account.
Watching Gates and Balmer get flustered these last two months is a kick. They can’t repsond. The emperor has no clothes. And PC people see this now. And companies too.
“Competition will give us all a better computing experience.”
You have that competition now, It’s been going on for over a decade and the winner is Windows. Second place goest to Linux, The looser is the Mac.
“Any easy to use/setup linux distro would be better and cheaper.”
I think the whole world is looking for an easy to use and setup linux distro. Who knows, given time one might even exist.
“Well….add keenly intelligent to that.”
ROTFLMAO. MDN postings prove that that can’t possibly be true. I’ve seldom seen more unintelligent drivel anywhere in the world than from the pro Mac guys on this site.
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