U.S. Army Officials Visit Apple Campus as Agency Weighs Purchasing and Development Plans

[miles01110]

Most everyone is talking about the hardware, but what about the software that Apple develops? Gesture technology, 3D rendering, AI, all the graphic intensive stuff Apple has always been known for. There's a lot of potential for software application outside of the Apple hardware the military may be interested in too.

Yep. There always has been the potential. The reason it doesn't happen is because (as I said earlier) Apple is almost completely inflexible when it comes to creating something new, modifying an existing application, or otherwise being accommodating to the government. There are exceptions, but they're few and far in between. Microsoft, on the other hand, is more than willing to get their hands dirty.

 

[DLary]

So let me get this straight. Some on this board seem to be saying:

"We Mac users are entirely too sophisticated and intelligent to allow our computers to be used by military neanderthals. Those that join the military are not smart enough to appreciate a Mac. All money spent on the military is wasted and part of a bloated budget. The military should be forced to use inferior equipment rather than offend my sensibilities as an educated, peace loving Mac user."

It is easy to sit in your ivory tower and criticize those who are out risking their lives so you can have your Latte every morning and make fun of those in the military.

If some Apple products would be appropriate, why on earth would you not want your country's military to have the finest equipment available?

 

[wizzerandchips]

So let me get this straight. Some on this board seem to be saying:

"We Mac users are entirely too sophisticated and intelligent to allow our computers to be used by military neanderthals. Those that join the military are not smart enough to appreciate a Mac. All money spent on the military is wasted and part of a bloated budget. The military should be forced to use inferior equipment rather than offend my sensibilities as an educated, peace loving Mac user."

It is easy to sit in your ivory tower and criticize those who are out risking their lives so you can have your Latte every morning and make fun of those in the military.

If some Apple products would be appropriate, why on earth would you not want your country's military to have the finest equipment available?

you sound like jack nicholson in "a few good men" FFS! The men go out there because there told to! Not because they want to, an army are primarily there to defend you country from invasion, so don't go down the route of we should be proud, we should be embarassed that the effect this alliance is having will have no effect whatsoever, all this patriotic bull makes me sick, I feel for the poor familys on both side hoodwinked into believing any of this is for a good cause! It's not, it's only good for the pocket, unless your a tax payer

 

[Dooger]

And they're taught how to spell, too.

Unless & until you've been there (and it's obvious you haven't), you may want to temper that opinion—the right to publicly express same courtesy of the poor folks serving you are so condescendingly pitiful of—with some factual knowledge. But that's the beauty of lifelong civilianhood, no need to live in the real world when there's some that do that for you.

Carry on, shipwreck.

Yeah because in the real world if I went into another country and carpet bombed a village I wouldn't be sent to jail. And the "until you've been there" argument is BS too. Do I need to first be a paedophile before denouncing paedophilia?

You really think that the civilians of Apple should involve themselves with an already extremely efficient killing machine? A homophobic, misogynistic one at that?

Loving the "latte" cliches, was wondering how long it would take for someone to come up with that.

 

[Friscohoya]

Actually for apple this is page one news.

 

[VulchR]

...And the "until you've been there" argument is BS too. Do I need to first be a paedophile before denouncing paedophilia?
....

Wow. Your logic here is inescapable. What is it you're denouncing exactly?

 

[Dooger]

Wow. Your logic here is inescapable. What is it you're denouncing exactly?

Dear oh dear. Have you read the rest of this thread or did you just bull on in there at the end? So out of all the comments, you tried pulling me up on just this one. It's hardly deeply philosophical, are you really struggling? Nice try lil tiger.

 

[vastoholic]

...

 

[kdarling]

Either way I don't care what the end use is if the US army take apple on i'll be put of buying Apple stuff. It's purely political!

The Army already uses Apple stuff. So I guess you'll never buy Apple.

Or Microsoft. Or Linux. Heck, the Army uses almost everything you can think of. Including electronics from probably every company you've heard of.

While you're at it, better check the tags in your clothes. And don't eat boxed or canned or frozen foods either, those companies also make military rations.

As a child of the 50s and 60s, I sympathize with your politics. As an Army veteran, I can tell you that you're barking up the wrong tree. Fight the politicians who go to war, not the war materials or their users... because there are times that you will really need them, and need them to be the best.

 

[NickK1066]

"Invading countries for Oil - there's an app for that!"

Seriously though you folks may want to have a look at this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qDo6ehxKds

IIRC there's a bit where a soldier gets his phone out to control it.

 

[aristotle]

Well windows for killing is one thing, Microsoft are well known to be evil but mac for killing? Either way I don't care what the end use is if the US army take apple on i'll be put of buying Apple stuff. It's purely political!

So I guess you will just live off the land from now on to grow your own cotton for clothes vegetables for food? You will abandon all technology including the internet (originally a military project).

http://www.darpa.mil/

As much as it pains me to say this, I agree with kdarling. Virtually every product you consume and every technology you use on a daily basis is also used by the US military and/or was originally invented for military use. Google maps was funded by the CIA when it was called Keyhole.

Have fun living off the grid.

 

[Goldenbear]

The Army is already using iPod Touches in the field. Put one in an Otterbox case and it's ruggedized.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/194623

And here's something from our very own MacWorld:
http://www.macworld.com/article/145159/2009/12/raytheon_app.html

There's a lot of waste in government, military or not. If the military can save money buying COTS solutions, we should all be happy.

And to those who keep trying to throw the discussion off-track, please keep the political cr@p off of here. There are plenty of other places where you can argue the good and bad of military/government/reality TV/etc. Personally, I think we should send the military after the Reality TV producers and contestants, but this isn't the forum for that

 

[tlove]

There is already a movie about this, iRobot. Apples new division will be called Ai.

 

[phineas]

Might as well spend some of that bloated budget on something good.

Ever served in the Military?

 

[NT1440]

Ever served in the Military?

That has nothing to do with the hundreds of billions we dump on weapons that don't even get used.

 

[phineas]

Are you people seriously applauding this? What a waste of our tax dollars!! I do contracts with the Navy every single day and I know that the technology that they have will not be benefited by the use of iPad/iPod/iPhone. The military does not offer wi-fi to their staff on base. Everything is hard wired and the conduit is sealed with a tamper proof silicon. The Government is very very particular about their SIPRnet (as they call it). Without wi-fi, what use is the iPad for the military other than to give them a little treat and waste our tax dollars? They already have mobile equipment in the vehicles that is far superior to Apple's products.

Because you do contracts for the Department of the Navy does not mean you know everything. Also there is more tax dollars going to waste every DAY with the current administration.

Trust me I served for 21 years and saw waste fraud and abuse, and there aint a dam thing your going to do, as soon as you blow the whistle your career is down the toilet and that is active duty personnel and the civilian workers also.

 

[InfoSecmgr]

Are you people seriously applauding this? What a waste of our tax dollars!! I do contracts with the Navy every single day and I know that the technology that they have will not be benefited by the use of iPad/iPod/iPhone. The military does not offer wi-fi to their staff on base. Everything is hard wired and the conduit is sealed with a tamper proof silicon. The Government is very very particular about their SIPRnet (as they call it). Without wi-fi, what use is the iPad for the military other than to give them a little treat and waste our tax dollars? They already have mobile equipment in the vehicles that is far superior to Apple's products.

As do I (contracts I mean, except most of them are Air Force). True the no wifi is an issue on base, but are we necessarily talking about just on base? I think without hearing more details of what they want to do with this stuff (which we won't) then we can't really make any judgement calls. As for the durability claims, well that is a load of..you know what. The Army does in fact use Mac OS X based systems for many of their servers and even some desktops. The vast majority is still Windows, but the Macs are out there in the wild.

 

[InfoSecmgr]

Because you do contracts for the Department of the Navy does not mean you know everything. Also there is more tax dollars going to waste every DAY with the current administration.

Trust me I served for 21 years and saw waste fraud and abuse, and there aint a dam thing your going to do, as soon as you blow the whistle your career is down the toilet and that is active duty personnel and the civilian workers also.

This about sums it up to the OP you are replying to here. I've been in for 6 years (a bit less than you obviously) but I do concur.

 

[InfoSecmgr]

That has nothing to do with the hundreds of billions we dump on weapons that don't even get used.

It has everything to do with it. You simply have no concept of what goes on in the military unless you are in or work for them. You really think what you hear in the news is the way it is? Wow.

 

[InfoSecmgr]

We wouldn't use them for killing. Quite the contrary. As an Intelligence Analyst I can say that I would love to have a Mac based system for all of our mapping/communication/networking needs. We wouldn't even need a "tough book" like computer, since most of my work is done out of a tent or a building. A rubber casing or strip could easily seal the ports. I have been wanting to incorporate my MBP into my work more and more.

+1 for mapping. When I worked at a Joint Reserve Intelligence Center (JRIC) the intel guys that deal with imagery (sorry I don't know the term) used Macs with 30 inch ACD's.

 

[Bear Hunter]

I know what some of the plans are as I met the reps from Apple when they came to visit us.

edit: ...and as mentioned, some of you have no concept about the military at all. It's pretty amusing actually.

RLTW

 

[renewed]

I know what some of the plans are as I met the reps from Apple when they came to visit us.

edit: ...and as mentioned, some of you have no concept about the military at all. It's pretty amusing actually.

RLTW

Is this a gloating post or are you going to share what you believe to be some of the concepts?

 

[H00513R]

No no no! If the government switches then Apple is guaranteed to be a target for hackers, and that leads to other baddies for us users. Keep them in the PC world or better yet - make them run Fedora.

 

[Bear Hunter]

Is this a gloating post or are you going to share what you believe to be some of the concepts?

Nope and nope. RDECOM isn't the only domain looking at this.

 

[RobBookPro]

This article led me to believe that the Army was after Apples's skills rather then their products. For example, creating intuitive platforms that do not require training.