Microsoft Wins Pentagon’s $10B Contract • Hacker News Board

Re: Microsoft Wins Pentagon’s $10B Contract

#271

Post by closeparen » Sat, Oct 26, 2019, 4:36 AM UTC

Eclyps wrote: post #20

There’s not much to the article right now (developing story), but how big of a blow is this to Amazon? And how big of a boon to Microsoft? I realize that this is likely because of the people that I surround myself with, but I don’t know anybody who actually uses Azure. Is Azure’s core business large corporations/government?

Basically every small and medium business in your city has Windows Server running in a closet or on a shelf somewhere doing Exchange, AD, files, and maybe SQL Server for a shrink wrapped line of business app. Every one of them is a candidate for Azure and you can bet their VAR / MSP is pushing it.

Re: Microsoft Wins Pentagon’s $10B Contract

#272

Post by SapphireFog » Sat, Oct 26, 2019, 4:38 AM UTC

Aperocky wrote: post #196

Supermancho wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Would we rather have the people in control of the military and our troops use out-of-date tech I don't trust or rely on any infrastructure that largely uses microsoft products...I'm sure there's some minor stuff hidden away here and there within systems. MSFT has a software philosophy, which is reciprocated in their culture, that can only be described as byzantine and unpredictable. They are basically 00's Oracle a…

I thought they have reinvented themselves with the new embrace for linux and the cloud? I've always thought Windows OS is garbage but Microsoft seemed fine without it nowadays. Can anyone with Microsoft knowledge share a little bit about the culture and how it's changed?

MS employee here. No joke, the Microsoft of today is like a 180 from the Microsoft of even 3, or 5 years ago.

Satya Nadella has been on a long-term campaign to transform the culture in some pretty inspiring ways, to be honest. It's led to the departure of long-time fixtures in leadership--the most shocking of which was the head of the Windows team (remember the agonizingly pushy nature of the Windows 10 rollout?). Today, there is no "Windows" team anymore, as they've been absorbed under the "Experiences and Devices" group. And increasingly, open source and embracing of other technologies has become a shocking priority (the decision to move to Chromium-based browser was especially shocking, but on further thought, consistent with Satya's philosophy).

So, yeah! I'm pretty optimistic of Microsoft's future. It's going to take some time to shed a lot of the old image it earned under Bill Gates in the 90's and Steve Ballmer more recently. But in my opinion, I think the company has by now earned what will likely take a few more years to become more apparent to the rest of the world. Basically, the CEO didn't just transform the company from a Windows-based business to a Cloud service provider; he absolutely moved to change the culture as the foundation for that move.

Re: Microsoft Wins Pentagon’s $10B Contract

#273

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Re: Microsoft Wins Pentagon’s $10B Contract

#274

Post by pkz » Sat, Oct 26, 2019, 4:47 AM UTC

For a lot of people the thinking will go "ah DoD uses Azure so it is safe to put pur own valuable stuff there". But is the DoD contract actually using the same Azure infrastructure as everyone else or is it running on a physically separated Azure platform with staff w security clearance?

Re: Microsoft Wins Pentagon’s $10B Contract

#275

Post by pm90 » Sat, Oct 26, 2019, 4:53 AM UTC

mattrp wrote: post #263

Frost1x wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean Amazon's HQ2 is pretty darn close to the pentagon itself, less than a mile away.

The pentagon is table stakes - everyone has something there. If you’re trying to demonstrate commitment, you invest in the hinterlands... and if you’re trying to justify a decision that otherwise is a deadlock that’s maybe where you find the tie-breakers.

I’m not sure why you’re being downvoted as the point you’re bringing up is a legitimate one.

If the assessment of 2 vendors finds them equal in most regards wrt the requirements, that’s when you look at somewhat unrelated factors to make the call. In this case, it’s entirely plausible that the DoD considered the fact that MSFT would be pliable to their concerns as a deciding factor.

Re: Microsoft Wins Pentagon’s $10B Contract

#276

Post by senderista » Sat, Oct 26, 2019, 4:56 AM UTC

ploxolo wrote: post #143

vkou wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would rather the military be less capable, because its current capability is being used for offensive, not defensive purposes. If it's less capable, it's less likely to get embroiled in stupid imperialistic adventures. Edit: I don't understand why so many people are, at the same time, so enthused by the idea of starving government (Because they think most of its services are a waste of money), while at the same tim…

So I take you approve of Trump's decision on Syria?

He advanced a long-term goal that I agree with (disengagement from Syria) in a manner I found stupid and immoral (abandoning the Kurds with no security guarantees and leaving potentially tens of thousands of IS prisoners free to escape).

Re: Microsoft Wins Pentagon’s $10B Contract

#277

Post by pm90 » Sat, Oct 26, 2019, 4:57 AM UTC

Sanzig wrote: post #239

meddlepal wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Core to many Texans identity is a belief that someday Texas is going to secede from the Union again and become its own independent country. Don't get me wrong, I love Texas and I love many of the Texans I've met for being some of the chillest, most down to earth, pragmatic and welcoming people I have ever met, but they are a bit weird about this particular issue sometimes.

It's still a bit weird to have a separate interconnection. Even if Texas was an independent nation, it wouldn't necessarily harm anything to be synchronized with another interconnection. The western and eastern interconnections already straddle international borders.

The implication is that the new Republic wouldn’t secede peacefully (not unreasonable, considering what happened the last time it tried seriously) and will be on its own for a little while.

Re: Microsoft Wins Pentagon’s $10B Contract

#278

Post by discodave » Sat, Oct 26, 2019, 5:02 AM UTC

Aperocky wrote: post #177

vmurthy wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The monetary benefit is one big thing but in the B2B scheme of things , a big success story like this would be very easy to convince other government organisations and government in other countries to adopt Azure if they haven’t moved to the cloud already. It’s the new “No one ever got fired for suggesting IBM”.

Really? Why would a foreign country trust a firm deeply engrained with the US military? Then again, there are only a few military in the world that need this kind of service, and those countries are highly unlikely to go with foreign entities as provider.

Yes. Other countries, particularly the "five eyes" are already deeply engrained with the US military, and they are rich countries with lots of money.

Five Eyes: USA, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand

Then you have all the other wealthy countries with close ties to the US: Germany, Japan, etc.

Re: Microsoft Wins Pentagon’s $10B Contract

#279

Post by jsploit » Sat, Oct 26, 2019, 5:02 AM UTC

pkz wrote: post #274

For a lot of people the thinking will go "ah DoD uses Azure so it is safe to put pur own valuable stuff there". But is the DoD contract actually using the same Azure infrastructure as everyone else or is it running on a physically separated Azure platform with staff w security clearance?

Separate infrastructure restricted to TS/SCI w/ poly.

Re: Microsoft Wins Pentagon’s $10B Contract

#280

Post by alexeldeib » Sat, Oct 26, 2019, 5:04 AM UTC

grawprog wrote: post #65

alexeldeib wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has happened to me multiple times on the HN front page today. I try the web links -- no luck. What's the point of having these articles on HN, if the more of them there are, the fewer people can read and discuss them without paying? It's antithetical to open discussion and analysis.

https://bitly.com/ + https://outline.com/ Come on it's hacker news, they specifically say workarounds are ok. I figured the paywalls were just a test honestly. If you're determined you should be able to find a way to read it.

I know this is the rule, and it's always puzzled me. Of course you can do the work every time and find anything, and in most cases it's doable. I just find it a sad state when I have to do this regularly, on top articles. Difference of opinion I guess.