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News > Air Force officials initiate service-wide upgrade to Windows 7
Air Force officials initiate service-wide upgrade to Windows 7

Posted 10/29/2010 Email story   Print story

    


by Capt. Christine D. Millette
24th Air Force Public Affairs


10/29/2010 - LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFNS) -- In a continuing effort to meet emerging threats, Air Force officials initiated the service-wide upgrade of operating systems to Windows 7 Oct. 29.

"This upgrade keeps with life cycle management best practices for information technology systems," said Col. Mark Ware, 24th Air Force director of operations. "The Air Force's upgrade from remaining Windows XP and those using Vista enhances the security of the Air Force information networks, reduces the manpower requirements for desktop administration, and lowers overall software licensing costs."

Programmers with 24th Air Force and its operational arm, the 624th Operations Center, have been testing and evaluating the upgrade on a small sample of the Air Force network since mid-August, providing assessments back to Air Force leaders regarding the readiness of the service to accept the upgrade. The Air Force-wide implementation which started Oct. 29 will continue to standing systems, with the goal of completing the upgrade across the service by December 2011.

"We ensure systematic, monitored procedures are used to conduct all cyberspace upgrades," said Col. Victor Diaz, the 624th OC commander. "We want to ensure that the process is as operationally non-interruptive as possible, and we provide support to each base as they conduct the upgrade on their systems."

For those average users currently using Vista, which is a majority of the Air Force population Colonel Diaz said, the upgrade will be nearly transparent. The biggest changes will be seen by those changing from Windows XP.

"The Integrated Network Operations and Security Centers, Enterprise Support Desk, and the base-level communications squadrons will be ready to answer questions about the change over," said Lt. Col. Todd Glanzer, 24th Air Force director of communications. "The change from Vista to Windows 7 will not be very drastic, but for those moving from the XP systems, we anticipate a need for a higher level of support, due to the big differences in the software."

The immediate piece of the upgrade initiation is the acquisition of new equipment.

"With the implementation of Standard Desktop Configuration 3.1, newly purchased equipment must be able to support the Windows 7 operating system, and that equipment will have Windows 7 loaded upon delivery to the customer," Colonel Ware said.

Local communications units will be the points of contact for when their respective units intend to upgrade the standing systems, Colonel Glanzer said. To learn more about the differences between Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7, see the Microsoft Corporation website at: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/compare/versions.aspx.



tabComments
3/10/2011 5:05:04 PM ET
Is there a schedule of when a Base is scheduled to transition? Can't find anyone here that knows...opened a ticket and the response was Contact customer and inform him that only the SDC 2.4 is authorized for right now. We have no ETA on when it will start using Wins 7. The NCC will announce when the new SDC will be available with Wins 7.
Dave, Randolph AFB Tx
 
1/28/2011 2:19:12 PM ET
It is not vista that is killing our computers. It it the fact that there are numerous programs constantly running that do nothing but slow down the computers. I work on the fligtline and I can tell you that the only programs we need to run a computer is the base OS and IMIS. That's it. So get rid of all the unnecessary programs and the computers will run that much more smoothly.
Dustin, Mountain Home AFB
 
11/4/2010 6:25:46 PM ET
It is absolutely atrocious the way the AF inconsistently makes network and software changes which brings lots and lots of consequences and people unable to perform their work because of incompatibilities between different systems.
Sgt whoever, at my desk
 
11/3/2010 2:22:25 AM ET
@K - you have to understand that it is not the AF or the enterprise service units that ultimately deploy operating systems to the workstations - it is the local comm units who go out and upgrade machines for the customers. There would be no point in having all customers across MAJCOM or AF calling at the operationalstrategic level because at that level they cannot help upgrade that individuals machine with an SDC image.
Rick, Ramstein
 
11/2/2010 6:43:59 PM ET
You should have adopted LINUX--much safer UBUNTU.
marysduby, Virginia
 
11/1/2010 9:48:43 PM ET
Matt it's not Vista that is killing most of the AF computers but our own bloatware policies and poorly configured networks. Jason, the AF is looking at rolling out Apple PCs but likely not with OSX. I am sure this will go smoothly and the MDG will still rock XP.
D, MDL
 
11/1/2010 7:57:39 PM ET
Oops, I work in a base level comm squadron. Maybe we should have heard about this before they made us the POC in AF news for everyone's upgrade questions.
K, PACAF
 
11/1/2010 3:01:20 PM ET
Windows 7 was MY idea.
Tom, Virginia
 
11/1/2010 1:12:41 PM ET
End users need to understand before they can have Windows 7 on their desktop that there is a tremendous amount of network preparations that must occur. The Operating System Deployment package that allows remote installation must be built and fielded at each base. Antivirus servers must be configured to keep virus definitions up to date since this OS upgrade also changes antivirus from Symantec to McAfee. GPOs must be built and linked. Additionally perhaps most importantly, applications must be tested for compatibility. Bottom-line: the AF is still several months away from end users actually getting Windows 7 on their desktop.
Stephen Poehl, RandolphAFB
 
11/1/2010 12:29:15 PM ET
Was hesitant at first to move onto Win 7 but now that I've been using it for over 3 months I have to say it's the single best OS I've ever used. Certainly beats MAC OS. Glad to hear it.
Nick, SA TX
 
11/1/2010 11:50:37 AM ET
The good news is that if they truly use the upgrade feature, Windows 7 should keep personal settings from Vista.
Tom, WPAFB
 
11/1/2010 9:27:25 AM ET
Hopefully they push Windows 7 a lot better than they pushed Vista to my computer. With no advance warning they completely wiped my computer clean and didn't reload the programs I neeeded to do my job. Took me about 3 days to have Comm get me operational again.
j, Scott AFB
 
10/31/2010 5:29:32 PM ET
AWESOME.... Just got vista two months ago wooo hoo
J, Texas
 
10/31/2010 9:46:41 AM ET
You can either wait for Lifecycle Replacement of your equipment and get SDC 3.1 as the basic load out of the box. I would rather simply go to CEDS and download it myself. Here is how to get it faster
Ken, Tampa FL
 
10/31/2010 6:29:58 AM ET
How about a service-wide upgrade to Mac
Jason, Kabul Afghanistan
 
10/29/2010 9:07:00 PM ET
Ohhh can we please get that NOW Vista is KILLing these computers. When it takes 15 minutes to log into a computer you know there are issues. Windows 7 would hopefully help remedy that. I hope its sooner to now and not Dec 2011 before we see this.
Matt, WPAFB
 
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