I’m so tired of this. I can’t believe that I’m part of the most advanced military organisation in the world, 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 defence 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 Dead. Information lost, time wasted, you know the drill.
It turns out that we had 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 or that the USAF uses Excel for any task or the fact that IT has to go through a help desk in another country.
Do you have other computing or tech support horror stories? Write to us.
steve
December 11, 2009 at 11:53 AM
dumbass americans at it again!
go buy a mac.. or is that being too american!
fuck.. i dunno!
Report PermalinkSean
December 11, 2009 at 12:05 PM
But, as pointed out, it isn’t strictly a Vista problem, but an ATI driver problem exasserbated by slow/nonexistent hardware support at their end.
I’m sure if Microsoft made hardware, there wouldn’t be any problems, but the machines would cost as much as Apple machines.
Report PermalinkDaniel Stewart
December 11, 2009 at 1:47 PM
It’s an issue with atimkdag.sys and Vista. Thankfully, the issue is no longer apparent in Win7. Well, not as far as Ive seen anyway – I used to get it daily in Vista :rant:
Report PermalinkDrew Mewburn
December 11, 2009 at 2:46 PM
I don’t really get the point of this post?
a) You’ve got a guy who’s using a work system, that he has no control over.
b) The problem with the system has nothing to do with the title or the main point of the rant
c) Oh I get it now, it’s Windows and not a Mac LOL
Mac’s had some pretty major Nvidia video card problems a while back, but I didn’t see retarded opinion pieces about that, blaming Apple or MacOS…
Report PermalinkGumby
December 11, 2009 at 2:51 PM
I’m surprised the military doesn’t have their own dedicated in house Tech team and that they’re too cheap to get a programmer to make a dedicated program for his data rather than (Microsoft) Excel.
They’re asking for data loss and corruption.
Report PermalinkBennish
December 11, 2009 at 3:00 PM
Don’t macs use ati cards??
Also, what a shame there isn’t, y’know, a newer version of windows. like, a seventh one… too bad.
So, bad graphics + bad support = it’s vista’s fault.
give me a break. I really respect soldiers but this guy’s being a bit narrow.
Report PermalinkFrogztar
December 11, 2009 at 3:48 PM
Yes, but macs also run on Unicorn dust and poop rainbows.
Report PermalinkYour right about the where the blame lies though. An organization as large and as structured as USAF should provide some kind of on-site Tech support. And using Excel for critical information which needs to be displayed in real time…. uh-huh… clever.
Jamie Carl
December 12, 2009 at 10:05 AM
President: The order is, ‘Attack!’
USAF Dude: Sorry, Mr President, we can’t attack today. My excel spreadsheet crashed and the tech support guys in India haven’t put through my work order yet.
Maybe this is a good thing. Vista brings about the end of war?
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