Indiana Launches Statewide Productivity System

TaylorJo writes "Lt. Governor of Indiana Kathy Davis today unveiled a new technology program designed to give all Hoosiers free access to a full suite of computer software tools. The SimIndiana software permits residents to access their personal files and applications from any computer at any time. The software can be downloaded on the SimIndiana site, but requires Windows, and registration on the site, to use it. The program also provides an email address and remote storage on SimIndiana servers."

Comments

The first step...

[gevmage]

I wonder how long it will take before it's required to have this access to pay taxes, register to vote, etc? At that point, I'd be annoyed.

Craig Steffen, former Indiana resident

One word:

[tomknight]

Good

Okay, a few more words....
Yes, you need to use Windows, and yes, we can't really trust the government (the next government, or maybe the one after that) with our personal/sensitive data/pr0n, but isn't it a good thing in principle that this is happening?

Tom.

Tried to create an account...

[herrvinny]

Tried to create an account, but the site's getting slow. Anyway, at the whatis page says:

Every student, every parent, every business, EVERYONE who lives in the State of Indiana can use SimIndiana. The only requirement is that you register for the software with a valid Indiana address.

Can't we forge an address anyway? NY Times thinks I'm from Anchorage, Alaska.

If you create a document in SimWord® (SimIndiana's word processor), you do not have to save it to a disk or to a computer's hard drive. With SimIndiana, you have the option to save your document in your virtual drive on the SimIndiana server.

It's simply a glorified virtual hard disk service, paid for by the government.

Re:I'll pass, thanks.

[caseydk]

What are the TOS?

I wonder what's going to happen the first time they start to lose their users' data? Do you sue the government knowing that the settlement will just be funded by charging the comsumer (ie the public) more?

I'm sure we'll be able to trust Indiana as an honest player. People gripe about Google scanning your email, but other seem to think that the government should store their files for them?

(former Indiana resident for 4 years during college)

Corrected Story Submission

[BandwidthHog]

Additions in bold:

TaylorJo writes "Lt. Governor of Indiana Kathy Davis today unveiled a new technology program designed to give all Hoosiers who purchase Microsoft Windows free (ahem) access to a full suite of computer software tools. The SimIndiana software permits residents who have already purchased Microsoft Windows to access their personal files and applications from any computer that runs Microsoft Windows at any time. The software can be downloaded on the SimIndiana site, but requires Windows, and registration on the site, to use it. The program also provides an email address and remote storage on SimIndiana servers."

Good idea but..

[Anonymous Coward]

I really wish people would make Microsoft keep its own monopoly instead of helping them by making IE only or Windows only stuff. They could've at least given the protocol so that if somebody with a Mac or something else wanted to could make their own.

Really, I thought government was supposed to be generally non-discriminatory. It's like "Congrats! We have a super-duper new highway system. Oh, only Ford motor vehicles can use it."

Might Shut Down

[thpdg]

The last bits of the article report that the system is just a 2 year trial, with possible extension. What happens at that time? Your materials will magically disappear? Thousands of warnings get sent out that you miss, and next thing you know, you life's work, written in SimWord, which can only be opened by SimWord, is gone forever? Even if you have the file, you have no license to SimWord to open it? This is like trusting any of the other dot-com gimmicks that came and went in the past 10 years. Where is the mp3.com archive today? What about Hotmail suddenly closing accounts? What if it is a SimIndiana account, and you had all your financial reports on there?
This is just too freaking dangerous to be more then just a handy accessory, but how many people will take it seriously?

More TOS goodness

[Quixote]

This caught my eye:

This State of Indiana and STI have a three year contract for STI to provide the Services and Software to city residents; however, the State of Indiana has the right to terminate this contract earlier. Therefore, any data, files or other information You store on an STI server may be deleted if the contract between STI and the State of Indiana is terminated or when it expires, if not sooner. STI cannot guarantee that You will be warned before Your data, files, email, content, or other information is deleted. (emphasis mine)

Let me get this straight: after they've got the citizens of Indiana using this system for 3 years, they'll be able to blackmail the state from ever terminating the contract. Wow....

Re:I'll pass, thanks.

[FauxPasIII]

> People gripe about Google scanning your email, but other seem to think that the government should store their files for them?

I can't vote to oust the CEO of Google.