The agreement covers 75 percent of all DoD personnel. Latest numbers have that personnel at about 450,000 or so (a 2006 estimate).
Many enterprises are apprehensive about making the switch to Windows 8 and many are waiting until later in 2013 before a move is even considered. However, today's action should provide Microsoft shareholders a little bit of confidence given that 330,000 new people will be using Windows 8 daily, potentially talking about it to friends and relatives. Investors just hope that's a positive conversation, versus one full of gripes.
The new Department of Defense agreement with Microsoft, which would bring the power of Windows 8, Office 2013 and other Microsoft products to our military and special forces.
Now Microsoft has chimed in a little more about the actual agreement. The company says that the actual contract was awarded to Insight Public Sector, a large reseller of Microsoft products and services.
Microsoft say s the deal will cover close to 75% of all department of defense personnel and is the most “comprehensive licensing agreement” they have ever made with the U.S. Military. Expanding on this further, Microsoft talked about how the Army and Air Force plan to use Windows 8:
The increasingly mobile DoD workforce will also use Windows 8 to empower productivity from any location, and any supported device, while taking advantage of enhanced security. The U.S. Army’s Network Enterprise Technology Command headquartered at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., and the Air Force Program Executive Office for Business and Enterprise Systems at Maxwell Air Force Base-Gunter Annex in Alabama, have been working closely with Microsoft on achieving Army Golden Master and Air Force Standard Desktop Configuration compliance for Windows 8.
This three year contract is nothing short of a big win for Microsoft. There is continued negative beliefs that Windows 8 can’t work in a business environment.
If the military finds Windows 8 capable of meeting and exceeding their computing needs, it shows that Windows 8 isn’t the failure that the misinformed and change-resistant crowd seems to think it is.
The Department of Defense states this new agreement will also save them a chunk of change, with a bout $70 million in saving for each year of the three year contract. Hopefully other businesses and organizations will take the military’s example here and start at least seriously considering how Windows 8 and other next-gen Microsoft products might help them going forward.
