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‘Fix My Computer’ Cry Echos on Social Media; Air Force CIO Responds

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Re: ‘Fix My Computer’ Cry Echos on Social Media; Air Force CIO Responds

#251

Post by abawany »

unionpivo wrote: post #248
ngc248 wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh man ... the cruft that corporate IT installs slows down the computers so much. Its better if companies start handing out linux machines if they cant afford macs. I would trade my windows laptop with IT cruft any day for a linux machine.

You have too much faith in corporate IT. They can fuck up macs and Linux just as well.

Can confirm: got Symantec End-Point Protection rolled out on macs here and it has turned them in slow crashy pieces of ... garbage; I've had to restore my machine from backup a couple of times already when a macos update with this thing running would result in an unbootable machine.

It would have been more cost-efficient and secure to smash our machines with sledgehammers than force us to run this ... junk.

Re: ‘Fix My Computer’ Cry Echos on Social Media; Air Force CIO Responds

#252

Post by blunte »

Linux (or openbsd?). Hire current critical open source contributors. Give them a general direction and some freedom, with 6 and 12 month goals.

Do this also with security researchers and developers.

DO NOT CONTRACT typical approved suppliers. Those are the non-technical leeches bleeding the public coffers.

Re: ‘Fix My Computer’ Cry Echos on Social Media; Air Force CIO Responds

#253

Post by imwillofficial »

Damogran6 wrote: post #226
imwillofficial wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to help Tanium manage their stuff for the US Navy on NMCI. I stand by my statement. But it’s not personal at all. Neither you nor I made Tanium, and I’m sure your deployment is the gold standard of Tanium deployments that would change my mind.

Noooo, Tanium gets blamed here for everything, all the time. We call it “Tanium got my dog pregnant” 99% of the time it’s not Tanium, but 1% of the time is very much is.

Oh God I totally know how you feel. Anything that touches everything like that gets blamed a lot.

On the upside, you learn every part of the stack as you have to defend yourself at each and every turn.

But be honest, it was Tanium that got my dog knocked up, wasn’t it?! Just admit it!

Re: ‘Fix My Computer’ Cry Echos on Social Media; Air Force CIO Responds

#254

Post by nexuist »

stadium wrote: post #250
nexuist wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the point of all the roadmapped projects if all of them will have 1hr+ startup times? Is the enemy going to wait for squadron commanders to log into Outlook before firing artillery? All of the strategic projects should get chopped until this one is addressed. What is the point of managing IT infrastructure if none of it works.

I'm not so familiar with the military but wouldn't it be up to brass like generals or strategic command to decide if the IT infra upgrades are a threat to combat readiness, and prioritize it accordingly? They can give the CIO budget to do this, but the CIO can't unilaterally decide to do it.

It is up to them, but it's the CIO's job to advocate for his employees and convince them to do it. You hire a CIO to be able to advise you on decisions such as this. The CIO isn't expected to be down in the trenches resetting Active Directory accounts or applying group policies, of course.

Re: ‘Fix My Computer’ Cry Echos on Social Media; Air Force CIO Responds

#255

Post by wildrhythms »

myaccounthaha wrote: post #174
Cthulhu_ wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US army has sponsored development of games quite a lot; I remember a friend of mine who was really into America's Army, that must've been 15 years ago now.

That's called propaganda.

An interesting quirk of America's Army was that the character models were always arranged such that the player character (and their team) was dressed as U.S. soldiers/ally forces, and the enemy players were always dressed as insurgents. So the player was never killing or being killed by U.S. forces from their perspective. It was a little weird to see your team of U.S. forces running around with AK-47s and shooting at insurgents carrying M16s :)

Re: ‘Fix My Computer’ Cry Echos on Social Media; Air Force CIO Responds

#256

Post by wildrhythms »

gopher_space wrote: post #218
Uhhrrr wrote: post #217

> “USAF says we need top talent cyber warriors,” he continued, enumerating the many barriers to competing with the private sector for such individuals. “Let’s say we successfully do that, and let’s assume we can cut through the bureaucracy/policy and assign them meaningful work that keeps them engaged and allows them the autonomy to move fast. The hardware alone will cause them to leave.” I'd imagine the kind of peop…

I'd also imagine the kind of people who get Linux running on a toaster aren't super interested in hardcore top-down power structures and shouty bosses.

The pay is also horrendous compared to other IT jobs at similarly large organizations.

Re: ‘Fix My Computer’ Cry Echos on Social Media; Air Force CIO Responds

#257

Post by wildrhythms »

AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #214
gnu8 wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> maxing out dev machines This is how we get software catastrophes like Teams. There is no earthly reason for it to suffer from the bugs and performance issues that it does and I have to believe the developers responsible for it are completely unaware of how much this software sucks to use because of their hot rod developer workstations. They still dog food at Microsoft don’t they?

> They still dog food at Microsoft don’t they? Ha ha ha, no, probably not. A relatively recent post from an alleged ex-Microsoft employee said that all the designers use Macs, which might be the reason Windows keeps getting worse.

I use a Mac for work in a corp environment and don't experience any of these insane problems.

Re: ‘Fix My Computer’ Cry Echos on Social Media; Air Force CIO Responds

#258

Post by throwaway0a5e »

pushcx wrote: post #225
sandworm101 wrote: post #198

For perspective: I work in a difference armed force but with basically the same issue. We once had a problem with soldiers stealing memory sticks from workstations (unclassified systems). Take only one stick and the machine still works. The theft problem goes unnoticed long enough that we cannot nail down who stole what when. Answer: Give the computers only one memory stick. Thefts will then be noticed quickly. Now,…

I had something similar happen to me at IBM in the late 90s. I came to my cubicle one morning to find the PC case slightly ajar. I set the monitor aside and opened it. The sole 8 MB RAM stick was gone. I reported it to my boss who explained that someone would've taken it because getting an upgrade was an impossible bureaucratic feat, but getting a fix was trivial. Probably I was picked because I was obviously the you…

This was a technique for getting necessary goods back in the USSR. You frequently couldn't get things on demand that your workplace could so if a lightbulb went out at home you'd steal one from work.

Re: ‘Fix My Computer’ Cry Echos on Social Media; Air Force CIO Responds

#259

Post by monetus »

not1ofU wrote: post #238
monetus wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a pretty important delineation.

They dont also fall under the DOD? (I am not a US citizen, genuine question) Also want to echo sentiments about roaming profiles and how annoying they can be.

You would hope so, but they report to the director of national intelligence (a member of the president's cabinet) and are not a subdivision of the DOD. They infamously have their own budget, funded by their own means, and have somewhat of a rivalry with other parts of the government. The Department of National intelligence is the DOD's version of the CIA.

Re: ‘Fix My Computer’ Cry Echos on Social Media; Air Force CIO Responds

#260

Post by geenew »

NikolaeVarius wrote: post #242
MrFoof wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm currently on an engagement at a retail bank for a project that went entirely off the rails (they brought me in to right it). All of the following are currently running simultaneously: * McAfee * Tanium, which is constantly firing off massive Python scripts * Aternity * Windows Defender (which is well-behaved as expected) ... wait for it ... on an SSD that has no DRAM. Yes, a cacheless SSD. Performance isn't much…

Seems about right. I've done engagements will multiple financial clients and they seem to make it their job to make every engineer as unproductive as possible.

Makes me think of the oft-repeated joke on MobileTechReview about bottom-of-the-line thinkpads with low-quality screens: "The laptop the IT department gets you when they hate you"
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