Re: Failed Win XP Upgrade Wipes Out UK Government Agency

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From: Bill James (wgjames_at_mvps.org)
Date: 11/27/04 

Date: Sat, 27 Nov 2004 15:24:53 -0700

Please point out in this article where it say this was a Windows XP upgrade that caused the problem. Why are you intentionally trying to mislead with the subject line you used? 

-- 
Bill James
Microsoft MVP - Shell/User
Windows VBScript Utilities » www.billsway.com/vbspage/
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"hermes" <hermes@messenger.com> wrote in message news:euDnK3M1EHA.3416@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
> "Most of the desktop computers in the UK's Department for Work and 
> Pensions were paralyzed for four days on Monday, when a failed upgrade 
> took them off line. The outage, covering 75-80 per cent of the DWP's 
> 80,000 PCs, is one of the largest in the UK Government's not entirely 
> impressive IT history."
> http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0,11026,1360163,00.html
> 
> "Pension and benefit payments face disruption after what is being 
> described as the biggest computer crash in government history left as 
> many as 80,000 civil servants staring at blank screens and reverting to 
> writing out giro cheques by hand in the latest blow to a hi-tech 
> Whitehall revolution.
> A week-long crisis in the giant Department for Work and Pensions created 
> a backlog of unprocessed claims with up to 80% of the ministry's 100,000 
> desk machines disrupted or knocked out by a blunder during maintenance.
> Engineers battling to fix the problem last night claimed 95% were 
> functioning fully again as they prepared to reboot the entire network 
> after offices closed to the public.
> Alan Johnson, the work and pensions secretary, has ordered an internal 
> inquiry into the role of Microsoft and the American contractors EDS, who 
> run the ministry's network as part of a £2bn information technology deal.
> The disruption is the latest in a line of government technology failures 
> and follows last week's resignation of the head of the Child Support 
> Agency, part of Mr Johnson's empire, after the disastrous introduction 
> of an EDS system contributed to only one in eight parents receiving the 
> correct amount.
> The DWP said some new and amended benefit claims this week would be 
> delayed but it sought to play down the impact of the technology 
> problems, pointing out that the department's mainframe computers were 
> not affected.
> But internal DWP correspondence seen by the Guardian, backed up by 
> interviews with staff, appears to contradict public assertions that the 
> disruption was minimal and most of the system continued operating normally.
> A "major incident report" distributed on Monday warned of "major 
> problems", with hourly updates issued to senior managers by fax or 
> telephone because email on the department's intranet was blocked.
> The DWP established a "crisis management centre" to resolve the 
> problems, with Microsoft troubleshooters flown in from mainland Europe 
> to join a high-level team including EDS technicians.
> A memo circulated yesterday within jobcentres said 30% of problems could 
> be eased by today with "a full solution potentially taking another 24-48 
> hours", and the difficulties running into the weekend.
> "At this point there is no known solution or ETA," said the memo. "We 
> are hopeful that some interim measures that are being considered may 
> release some users from their current deadlock."
> A routine software upgrade on a small number of PCs last weekend is 
> believed to have gone disastrously wrong when an incompatible system was 
> downloaded on to the whole network.
> The DWP said last night that progress had been swifter than expected, 
> insisting contingency plans had worked.
> "Pens came back out and in many cases hot desking was used," said a 
> senior official. "The problem was quite random so you could potentially 
> be sitting down at one desk and your mate next door couldn't access the 
> system."
> Trade union leaders called on ministers to drop plans to cut 40,000 jobs 
> in the DWP and a total of 104,000 civil servants across the government 
> following the computer crisis.
> Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services 
> Union, said: "Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse after the 
> experiences of the CSA we have what can only described as near-meltdown 
> with IT across the whole of the DWP.
> "Yet again we are seeing thousands of hardworking staff, many of whom 
> face the axe, trying to deliver essential services with one hand tied 
> behind their back.
> "The department and the government are hellbent on axing thousands of 
> civil and public servants, saying IT will enable them to do so, but yet 
> again we are seeing IT systems come to a grinding halt and fail.
> "For the government and the department to contemplate axing thousands of 
> jobs when the IT clearly isn't delivering is not only irresponsible and 
> foolhardy, but some would argue pure madness."
> Texas-based EDS has already seen £12.1m withheld by the government from 
> an ill-fated £450m CSA project. Mr Johnson is said to be considering 
> scrapping the contract.
> Labour has spent some £1.5bn on over-budget or scrapped computer 
> projects, many inherited from the Conservatives, prompting National 
> Audit Office reports.
> The Swanwick air traffic control centre, due to open in 1996 at a cost 
> of £475m, started six years late and £180m over-budget, while £300m was 
> spent on a scheme, later scrapped, to use plastic cards to pay benefits 
> via post offices.
> EDS failed to get an Inland Revenue contract renewed after complaints 
> about its work.
> Keith Wylie, a PCS national officer, said: "I cannot remember a crash 
> this big."
> He added: "It's a massive failure and unless it's fixed quickly it's 
> going to result in significant delays in benefits being paid out. If it 
> was two years down the line and those 40,000 staff had been lost, there 
> would have been no one to write out the giros."
> http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0,11026,1360163,00.html
> 
> I wonder if the UK National Health Service is regretting awarding 
> Microsoft a £500 million contract now?
> 
> --
> hermes
> DRM sux!  Treacherous Computing kills our virtual civil liberties!
> http://protectfreedom.tripod.com/index.html
> http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/tcpa-faq.html
> http://anti-dmca.org/
> http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/unintended_consequences.php
> 
> Windows XP crashed.
> I am the Blue Screen of Death.
> No one hears your screams

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