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The Olympics run on WinXP!

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zridling:
Who knew!
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10459312-56.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=BeyondBinary

VANCOUVER, British Columbia--The good news for Microsoft is that all the PCs powering the Olympics are running Windows. The bad news: it's the older Windows XP operating system. Windows 7, it seems, was a bit too new to be used, while Windows Vista was, well, Windows Vista. So, instead, all the PCs are running an operating system that was first released before the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City.



Acer has delivered more than 6,000 computers to Olympic organizers--with all the notebooks and desktops running Windows XP. Representatives for Acer confirmed that the more than 6,000 notebooks and desktops that they delivered to Olympic organizers were all running Windows XP. "It was the operating system requested by VANOC (the Olympic organizing committee) and Atos Origin" (the technology integrator managing the Olympics tech operations), said Todd Olson, who manages Acer's tech work in Vancouver.

To be fair, the Olympics tends to be conservative, even in the IT profession. Its mandate to suppliers was to "deliver a flawless Games" not try out the latest in new technology.

Josh:
As you said in your last sentence, "Its mandate to suppliers was to "deliver a flawless Games" not try out the latest in new technology" sums it up. Why run something bleeding edge in an arena that does not forgive mistakes due to its realtime nature?

zridling:
Using XP also guarantees that other countries' reporters are familiar with the OS. I figure only 25%(?) of Windows users have moved to Win7 to date, and perhaps half the world is still using XP.

Josh:
Exactly. There is a time and place to use a new OS and on something that is broadcast in realtime and does not forgive mistakes (ALA Janet Jackson super bowl incident), running the cutting edge can cause more problems and embarrassment than need be.

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