The Government's attitude

shane7218 · 02-08-2013 01:01PM #1

http://www.independent.ie/business/technology/governments-information-officer-dismisses-microsoft-warning-over-vulnerable-computers-29465387.html

I think this really shows the governments "be grand" attitude.

Nemeses · 02-08-2013 01:16PM

I doubt MS will extend that deadline.. 12 years support and rolling? Not a chance!

XPs time is well and truly over ... and so is this government..

Some people are so naive ...

shane7218 · 02-08-2013 01:18PM

Nemeses wrote: »

I doubt MS will extend that deadline.. 12 years support and rolling? Not a chance!

XPs time is well and truly over ... and so is this government..

Some people are so naive ...

Why should they to please a government who's lack of knowledge of IT is baffling. Look at the SUSI grant system, CAO, and most government sites still look like they were made in the 90's

Nemeses · 02-08-2013 01:25PM

shane7218 wrote: »

Why should they to please a government who's lack of knowledge of IT is baffling. Look at the SUSI grant system, CAO, and most government sites still look like they were made in the 90's

I was not suggesting Microsoft to continue support for XP.

XP's support should have been killed off years ago!

I'm just annoyed by the government ignoring advice.. you know, from the company that developed the fk'ing software..

Idiots.

shane7218 · 02-08-2013 01:27PM

Nemeses wrote: »

I was not suggesting Microsoft to continue support for XP.

XP's support should have been killed off years ago!

I'm just annoyed by the government ignoring advice.. you know, from the company that developed the fk'ing software..

Idiots.

I know you weren't my wording of the post was bad

That's exactly my point Microsoft makes the OS and here's the little Irish government coming along and telling them they wont drop support. :rolleyes:

rolliepoley · 02-08-2013 01:28PM

A dead beat government working on a dead beat system.

:rolleyes:

howamidifferent · 02-08-2013 01:31PM

Probably keeping it because the public service people would want cash or pay rises to retrain for the new OS as a change in work practices or productivity benefits...

Phoebas · 02-08-2013 01:31PM

Nemeses wrote: »

I'm just annoyed by the government ignoring advice.. you know, from the company that developed the fk'ing software..

They're hardly ignoring it - they just don't accept it.

Obviously MS would love the millions of Euro in new licence sales, but I'm not sure the taxpayer feels the same way.

EyeSight · 02-08-2013 01:32PM

just to point out, this deadline was flagged years ago. MS didn't suddenly surprise the government.
There's not a chance they will continue support.

Phoebas · 02-08-2013 01:32PM

rolliepoley wrote: »

A dead beat government working on a dead beat system.

:rolleyes:

XP is a pretty decent OS. That's probably why loads of companies don't feel the need to move off it quite yet.

shane7218 · 02-08-2013 01:33PM

Phoebas wrote: »

XP is a pretty decent OS. That's probably why loads of companies don't feel the need to move off it quite yet.

Most companies have migrated already to windows 7 and 8 but they knew this was coming years ago

My name is URL · 02-08-2013 01:34PM

“You’d have to ask whether Microsoft really will turn off their support,”

Absolute fool... what does he think, companies are obliged to pander to idiots who refuse to modernise their systems? And he's the guy in charge of IT for the government?! Jesus wept...

Sofiztikated · 02-08-2013 01:34PM

What....?

Microsoft: Lads, we're not supporting XP any more, you could be subject to hackers and viruses.
Gubbernmint: Wha? Shure, it'll be grand like.
Microsoft: No, seriously, I'm guessing you have secure documents and the like that you don't want people to access?
Gubbernmint: Yeah, but it'll be grand like.
Microsoft: Right. Seriously though. It's a good idea to upgrade.
Gubbernmint: Ah, shure, it works alright at the moment, it'll do.

Who is letting dinosaurs be in charge of **** like this?

Mr Benevolent · 02-08-2013 01:35PM

Bill McCluggage

Hah, what a great name for a gigolo.

minotour · 02-08-2013 01:35PM

ehhh, I agree with Mccluggage or whatever his name is, fair play to him for not pandering to the MS threats. Imagine how costly a switchover is, id rather we did it on our own terms and not theirs. He can haul in any of the top brass from MS anytime he wants, he will get his way too and rightly so.

Plus the UK are in far worse shape than us in this regard, try selling a web app to the home office, you are forced to support IE 6 for **** sake. They will be having words with MS too and they wont be pleasent.

The Backwards Man · 02-08-2013 01:36PM

XP still has 40% of the market worldwide. Microsoft won't turn off support until that figure comes down significantly, they're too cute to shoot themselves in the foot like that. McCluggage is right.

shane7218 · 02-08-2013 01:37PM

The Backwards Man wrote: »

XP still has 40% of the market worldwide. Microsoft won't turn off support until that figure comes down significantly, they're too cute to shoot themselves in the foot like that. McCluggage is right.

They will terminate support and once they do that market share wont be long about coming down and windows 7 and 8 climbing more

rolliepoley · 02-08-2013 01:37PM

Phoebas wrote: »

XP is a pretty decent OS. That's probably why loads of companies don't feel the need to move off it quite yet.

Did they not stop the updates for xp a few years ago.?

Ray Palmer · 02-08-2013 01:39PM

There will not be a massive risk if they don't upgrade. The firewalls on the network will stop it coming through. XP is perfectly valid to be still used. It is just a push by Microsoft to generate money on licences. Upgrades by Microsoft are becoming increasingly pointless with features nobody really uses.

jester77 · 02-08-2013 01:40PM

XP :eek:

lol, government still living in the past!

shane7218 · 02-08-2013 01:40PM

Ray Palmer wrote: »

There will not be a massive risk if they don't upgrade. The firewalls on the network will stop it coming through. XP is perfectly valid to be still used. It is just a push by Microsoft to generate money on licences. Upgrades by Microsoft are becoming increasingly pointless with features nobody really uses.

There is a huge difference in features between XP and 7. That still wont stop web exploits and such coming through browsers

Phoebas · 02-08-2013 01:41PM

shane7218 wrote: »

Most companies have migrated already to windows 7 and 8 but they knew this was coming years ago

There's a Gartner report that says that over 15% of medium and large companies will still be using it after its sunset.

The state should be moving off it, but given that we're effectively bankrupt, I'd say its a difficult ask for an IT Manager in the public service in charge of a non critical system running XP to get a budget for an upgrade.

Phoebas · 02-08-2013 01:42PM

rolliepoley wrote: »

Did they not stop the updates for xp a few years ago.?

Security patches are still rolled out.

shane7218 · 02-08-2013 01:42PM

Phoebas wrote: »

There's a Gartner report that says that over 15% of medium and large companies will still be using it after its sunset.

The state should be moving off it, but given that we're effectively bankrupt, I'd say its a difficult ask for an IT Manager in the public service in charge of a non critical system running XP to get a budget for an upgrade.

The entire PS uses XP. Considering citizen records and other sensitive data is stored on machines using XP and Windows server 2003 its ridiculous.

Czarcasm · 02-08-2013 01:43PM

"You’d have to ask whether Microsoft really will turn off their support,” said Mr McCluggage. “There are organisations larger than us [in government] that won’t be fully switched over by then. So the question is whether they mean what they say"

Misguided gobshìte. I truly have to wonder who advises these people, and then even worse lets them out in public to spout such arrogant waffle.

My name is URL · 02-08-2013 01:44PM

The Backwards Man wrote: »

XP still has 40% of the market worldwide. Microsoft won't turn off support until that figure comes down significantly, they're too cute to shoot themselves in the foot like that. McCluggage is right.

In 2011 usage for XP was around 40%. It's dropped massively since then to around 15%

http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_os.asp

They're not bluffing when they say that support will end.. that's just a basic support lifecycle. It's not in their interest to invest time and money on a system that fewer and fewer people use. And they want to progress anyway.. not enable users to operate on outdated systems.

minotour · 02-08-2013 01:44PM

shane7218 wrote: »

The entire PS uses XP. Considering citizen records and other sensitive data is stored on machines using XP and Windows server 2003 its ridiculous.

Agree, they should move to Linux altogether which it wouldnt surprise if this new chap is considering it.

Phoebas · 02-08-2013 01:44PM

Sofiztikated wrote: »

What....?

Microsoft: Lads, we're not supporting XP any more, you could be subject to hackers and viruses.
Gubbernmint: Wha? Shure, it'll be grand like.
Microsoft: No, seriously, I'm guessing you have secure documents and the like that you don't want people to access?
Gubbernmint: Yeah, but it'll be grand like.
Microsoft: Right. Seriously though. It's a good idea to upgrade.
Gubbernmint: Ah, shure, it works alright at the moment, it'll do.

Who is letting dinosaurs be in charge of **** like this?

Or...

IT Manager: I need €20m to upgrade my non critical system to Windows 7.
Government: No problem. I'll just need to shut down a hospital ward or two.

Sofiztikated · 02-08-2013 01:45PM

rolliepoley wrote: »

Did they not stop the updates for xp a few years ago.?

We still use in it work, and still get updates.

We'll be moving to 7 soon (how soon is soon, I don't know.)

What hinders us is the fact that we use browser based software. Doesn't work on new browsers. Doesn't work on older browsers. Fúcked if it'll work on anything other than IE. It's a royal pain in the arse. That and getting our Financial Controller to ok it. She is of the view point that "It works fine now, why do we need to spend money to change!"

To upgrade our whole system, your talking Win licences for approx 30 computers (in fact probably 30 new machines), plus licences for our browser based ****, interfaces, servers, etc.

I'm going to guess Gubbernmint is the same.

rolliepoley · 02-08-2013 01:45PM

Phoebas wrote: »

Security patches are still rolled out.

Ah service pack 3.

shane7218 · 02-08-2013 01:46PM

minotour wrote: »

Agree, they should move to Linux altogether which it wouldnt surprise if this new chap is considering it.

That would be madness to do. Despite the huge compatibility issues that would appear imagine trying to train users how to operate it. Will not happen although this is Ireland so you never know

The Government's attitude

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