Good enough for goverment work?

wdhpr · 06. Jul 2011, 11:35 PM

$2.7 Billion Computer Still Doesn't Work

It appears the mighty government and and all its billions of dollars have yet to come to grips with what us common folk call common sense. This is not to say the effort to create a system such as this is without merit. I do however wonder if the high ranking official who signed off on this idea was thinking (for 2 and half billion its got to be good)

Yet the same egg heads are cutting the benefits of their retired soldiers.

I myself have seen huge waste and mismanagement during my days and tried to correct things as best as my pay grade would allow which mostly fell on deaf ears.

I do not want this to be a political statement rather my thoughts on the huge waste created by individuals who don't care because they are not paying for it out of their pockets.

Seems these high ranking geniuses should spend some time here at Gizmo's and if their lucky maybe get a clue while their at it!

1002richards · 07. Jul 2011, 06:32 AM

You are not alone, the UK Govt can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory too ..

"Ministers blamed for 'stupendous incompetence' after taxpayers left with huge bills for bungled projects

A series of botched IT projects has left taxpayers with a bill of more than £26bn for computer systems that have suffered severe delays, run millions of pounds over budget or have been cancelled altogether.

An investigation by The Independent has found that the total cost of Labour's 10 most notorious IT failures is equivalent to more than half of the budget for Britain's schools last year. Parliament's spending watchdog has described the projects as "fundamentally flawed" and blamed ministers for "stupendous incompetence" in managing them."

Link to whole article via http://www.ronrosenhead.co.uk/351/go...for-taxpayers/

Post Script to wdhpr's posting ... it has been said that Military Intelligence is a contradiction in terms!

wdhpr · 07. Jul 2011, 10:08 PM

Thanks 1002richards. Your link was right on the mark.

I have been seeing this mindset with governments to everyday people. A friend recently called me saying he just paid $60.00 for the complete Norton security suite. He wanted to know why he is getting all these pop ups telling him there are errors on his computer and that potentially damaging software is installed. He also told me his computer is running extremely slow and that now he's getting hard drive errors.
2 things
He's using a low end Toshiba laptop
He installed Norton over Avast anti virus.
That explains his problems. His mind set is in fact the root of his troubles. During the conversation he told me he wanted the get the very best software. "for sixty bucks it has to be good" right?
After giving him the standard spiel about free versus commercial software he told me he had no idea he could get quality free software.

I encounter this mind set all to often. "Free software can not be good". "Who in their right mind would just give away something that is good?" I'm not saying the government should start using open source software for super secret computer systems. What I am saying is, for something to be good it doesn't have to cost tons of money. In my original post I linked to a article and in that article a former intelligence officer stated: "Almost any commercial solution out there would be better."

In conclusion I'm not saying everything free is good. I believe we all can point to free software that is terrible and the same can also be said about shareware. I have a blend of Free and open source with commercial software on my computer. I do contend that individual needs to do a little research before buying that pretty box that contains software which claims to turn their computer into a lean, mean super fast machine. One may be surprised there is a free alternative that is as good or better.

Cheers

bibzgi · 11. Jul 2011, 02:28 AM

I'm American, and I thought that my wise President was gonna get America out of foreign entanglement.

Even from the perspective of Wall Street, the most powerful special interest group in the U.S. special interest group "democracy", American foreign policy makes no sense.

Utter madness in the name of fighting terrorism.

Oh wait a second....I recall the song "War Pigs" from the band Black Sabbath. The lyrics could apply to what was before and what is now, different climates, different places.

On another frustrating note, my co-workers think that there is no such thing as good freeware.

Especially an operating system!

wdhpr · 12. Jul 2011, 01:00 AM

I just recently fixed a major problem by booting off my USB drive into Puppy Linux. I was easily able to correct a problem thus preventing a major crash which would have surely occurred. I love the way Linux circumvents all the MS Windows nonsense. Linux = free and flexible.

May peace ultimately prevail. The world has enough difficulties to attend to.

Cheers

06. Jul 2011, 11:35 PM	#1 (permalink)
wdhpr Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: The north Coast Posts: 1,117	Good enough for goverment work? $2.7 Billion Computer Still Doesn't Work It appears the mighty government and and all its billions of dollars have yet to come to grips with what us common folk call common sense. This is not to say the effort to create a system such as this is without merit. I do however wonder if the high ranking official who signed off on this idea was thinking (for 2 and half billion its got to be good) Yet the same egg heads are cutting the benefits of their retired soldiers. I myself have seen huge waste and mismanagement during my days and tried to correct things as best as my pay grade would allow which mostly fell on deaf ears. I do not want this to be a political statement rather my thoughts on the huge waste created by individuals who don't care because they are not paying for it out of their pockets. Seems these high ranking geniuses should spend some time here at Gizmo's and if their lucky maybe get a clue while their at it!

07. Jul 2011, 10:08 PM	#3 (permalink)
wdhpr Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: The north Coast Posts: 1,117	Thanks 1002richards. Your link was right on the mark. I have been seeing this mindset with governments to everyday people. A friend recently called me saying he just paid $60.00 for the complete Norton security suite. He wanted to know why he is getting all these pop ups telling him there are errors on his computer and that potentially damaging software is installed. He also told me his computer is running extremely slow and that now he's getting hard drive errors. 2 things He's using a low end Toshiba laptop He installed Norton over Avast anti virus. That explains his problems. His mind set is in fact the root of his troubles. During the conversation he told me he wanted the get the very best software. "for sixty bucks it has to be good" right? After giving him the standard spiel about free versus commercial software he told me he had no idea he could get quality free software. I encounter this mind set all to often. "Free software can not be good". "Who in their right mind would just give away something that is good?" I'm not saying the government should start using open source software for super secret computer systems. What I am saying is, for something to be good it doesn't have to cost tons of money. In my original post I linked to a article and in that article a former intelligence officer stated: *"Almost any commercial solution out there would be better."* In conclusion I'm not saying everything free is good. I believe we all can point to free software that is terrible and the same can also be said about shareware. I have a blend of Free and open source with commercial software on my computer. I do contend that individual needs to do a little research before buying that pretty box that contains software which claims to turn their computer into a lean, mean super fast machine. One may be surprised there is a free alternative that is as good or better. Cheers Last edited by wdhpr; 07. Jul 2011 at 10:15 PM.

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07. Jul 2011, 06:32 AM	#2 (permalink)
1002richards Senior Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Sussex, UK. Posts: 167	You are not alone, the UK Govt can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory too .. "Ministers blamed for 'stupendous incompetence' after taxpayers left with huge bills for bungled projects A series of botched IT projects has left taxpayers with a bill of more than £26bn for computer systems that have suffered severe delays, run millions of pounds over budget or have been cancelled altogether. An investigation by The Independent has found that the total cost of Labour's 10 most notorious IT failures is equivalent to more than half of the budget for Britain's schools last year. Parliament's spending watchdog has described the projects as "fundamentally flawed" and blamed ministers for "stupendous incompetence" in managing them." Link to whole article via http://www.ronrosenhead.co.uk/351/go...for-taxpayers/ Post Script to wdhpr's posting ... it has been said that Military Intelligence is a contradiction in terms!

11. Jul 2011, 02:28 AM	#4 (permalink)
bibzgi Full Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 60	I'm American, and I thought that my wise President was gonna get America out of foreign entanglement. Even from the perspective of Wall Street, the most powerful special interest group in the U.S. special interest group "democracy", American foreign policy makes no sense. Utter madness in the name of fighting terrorism. Oh wait a second....I recall the song "War Pigs" from the band Black Sabbath. The lyrics could apply to what was before and what is now, different climates, different places. On another frustrating note, my co-workers think that there is no such thing as good freeware. Especially an operating system!

12. Jul 2011, 01:00 AM	#5 (permalink)
wdhpr Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: The north Coast Posts: 1,117	I just recently fixed a major problem by booting off my USB drive into Puppy Linux. I was easily able to correct a problem thus preventing a major crash which would have surely occurred. I love the way Linux circumvents all the MS Windows nonsense. Linux = free and flexible. May peace ultimately prevail. The world has enough difficulties to attend to. Cheers