Why the U.S. Military Doesn’t Train on XBoxes

Alright, my unplanned, unintentional hiatus from my blog has lasted long enough. This is just too ludicrous to not post. A recent article on wired.com explains why the U.S. military uses computers rather than Xboxes (or is it Xboxen?), even though the latter is cheaper and much easier to configure. Here's one of the three reasons Microsoft gave to Roger Smith, chief technology officer for PEO STRI, the Army command responsible for purchasing training equipment:

"if the Xbox became an Army training device, it would taint its reputation. Microsoft was concerned that “do we want the Xbox 360 to be seen as having the flavor of a weapon? Do we want Mom and Dad knowing that their kid is buying the same game console as the military trains the SEALs and Rangers on?”

Really, Microsoft? Well you better not tell "Mom and Dad" that that PC that the whole family uses currently possesses the "flavor of a weapon" because maybe they'll stop buying those, too. (Also, why is the kid buying the game console and not the supposedly concerned parents?) True, it's quite unlikely that the PC at their house has the same training software on it that the military does, but Microsoft wouldn't have to make the Xbox game(s) that the military would use available to the general public either. It's not even the game itself that they're apparently worried about, it's the game console. I'm sure there are a number of people out there that would refuse to have an Xbox in their house knowing that the U.S. military trains on them, I just don't think that that number is greater than the number of consoles Microsoft would sell to the military.

Oddly enough, another concern that Microsoft listed is that they couldn't handle the workload of producing Xbox 360s for both the military and the general public. Seems to me that these complaints cancel each other out. If you think manufacturing for the military will cause civilians to no longer want your product, then production won't have to worry about a double workload.

360s for the military seems like a win-win situation. Microsoft gets more money (if they're that concerned about a "shortage of Xbox 360s", don't they have the means to expand production?), and the military gets a cheaper, less problematic training device that its users are more likely familiar with.