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US CTO Choice Down To a Two-Horse Race
theodp writes "Barack Obama apparently didn't return CmdrTaco's call. BusinessWeek reports that the choices for the first US CTO have narrowed, and it's now a two-horse race between Padmasree Warrior, Cisco's CTO, and Vivek Kundra, who holds the same title for the Government of the District of Columbia. Two very different resumes — which would you advise Obama to pick?" I just know I was #3 on the list.
No Cisco, no gov't hack.
we need credible change
Didn't know either existed.
On the basis that Cisco functions and makes money, while DC is a disaster, Cisco_guy++.
Either way, the position is going to be mostly a figurehead. Unless Obama delegates some serious executive power over the federal bureaucracy, this will just be a cushy job for the next several years.
The CTO needs to be able to override agency decisions, put mandates on them and punish them for non-compliance. I seriously doubt that Obama is going to go that far. One of the first ones should be to stop the Oracle lovefest, and make it federal policy to stop using Oracle on most federal systems that have less than a few hundred users.
If I had to choose between the two, which apparently I would (not that my decision makes ANY difference whatsoever), I'd have to go with the dude from Cisco. He at least has his roots, however good they may be, in a business and not a "cushy government job."
Right, the government sucks, so by no means should you consider working for the government, even if the point of the particular job they're offering you is to make the government less sucky. I guess the suckiness of government is somebody else's problem.
You know, your attitude sucks.
You leeches, you scrimp on your taxes, never thank the government, and then have the gall to tar all public servents - people who spend their best years serving YOU - with the same, tired accusations. Tell me, how to you square the 'public service = cushy' claim with the 'US = most powerful country' circle? Do you think the infrastructure, social safety net, military, judiciary, etc., all just run on automatic?
Mod parent up. Never understood this particular American obsession with tearing down the government and then proudly claiming it sucks. Sounds insane to me.
Blame Ronnie Raygun. He popularized the idea that "government is the problem", while blowing enormous quantities of money on militarization, possibly in hopes of bankrupting the federal government. Never trust someone to run something when they believe it's a stupid idea to begin with, they'll usually just mess it up.
"He may look like an idiot, and talk like an idiot, but don't let that fool you. He really is an idiot." - Duck Soup
i actually think either of these guys would be fine. the fact that we are getting a US CTO is a good first step. face facts:the first US CTO will prolly have a hard start until the rest of the government finally step in line and actually realize that a CTO is needed in these times.
there's gonna be some oldtime hardliners who'll remember "a time when there wasn't a fancy-pants US CTO, and don't really see a need for one..." once the prejudice and ignorance are washed away, then the CTO will actually make a difference.
on a side note, what happened with talk of Bill Joy becoming CTO? not to taut nativism, but he is an American(born and bred), author of vi, backbone of the original BSD rollout and co-founder of Sun.
whats up with that?
three can keep a secret, if two are dead - benjamin franklin
Given that Cisco is the company that provided China with most of its network solutions for the so-called "Great Firewall"
And you don't think that somewhere, some agency is looking at that as a positive? Especially considering the wiretapping/network monitoring in recent years...
Do you want to die by way of eaten by sharks, or would you rather have wolves?
I honestly don't think either candidate is qualified for the position. We already know that Cisco is willfully ignorant, even hostile, towards FOSS and I imagine quite a lot of that mindset is endorsed by the CTO's office.
Is it too late to clean the slate and start over?
As Cisco's CTO Padmasree Warrior has led many changes inside of Cisco.
1. Green DataCenter initiatives - She has led the charge in lowering power consumption of existing DataCenters by utilizing new technologies, as well as consolidating sites. This has a direct financial impact, as well as being good for the environment.
2. Focus on collaborative tools and teams - she has really pushed to break down the silo's between teams by providing the tools and technologies to seamlessly share information between teams.
Most importantly, she is a forward thinking technologist, not a bureaucrat. If I am going to trust anybody to drive the technical vision of the federal government, I am going to trust Padmasree.
Colin McNamara - CCIE #18233 "The difficult we do immediately, the impossible just takes a little longer"
The government really began to stink it up when it became possible to make a career out of being a politician. Back in the day, and I mean way back when, work in the US government was considered a service to the country and not a means to make oneself rich. The combination of capitalism and government was a terrible idea and there needs to be some reform to change the wealth in the political system. Just my personal opinion.
"Educate the mind but never at the expense of the soul."~Blessed Basil Moreau
I'll accept the idea that the government is the problem, only if it means getting rid of government-sanctioned monopolies (IP) and government-sanctioned non-existent individuals (corporations).
If a government exists, it has to do its job regulating, taxing, and doling out benefits. If it doesn't exist, then it should not be doing anything. Following any intermediate path is just a method for the powerful to remain in power.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
I think there was a lot of smack thrown around above about Kundra by people who have no situational awareness of what is going on in DC.gov. I am an IT professional and a DC citizen for 15 years. I think this guy is a truly innovative and entrepreneurial thinker - he is a change agent who is demonstrating the creativity, work ethic and balls to make an impact on a hugely change-resistant bureaucracy. He also has experience running effective government IT organizations. My only regret if he gets the nod from Obama will be that DC loses his sorely needed talent.
As we have seen over the last several months, it is the notion that there truly exists "a free market" (which, by definition, includes a well-informed public) that is the problem. Without governmental oversight, markets are manipulated, the public is cheated, and, just as in the early part of the 20th century, a privileged few were allowed to amass staggering wealth at the expense of everyone else.
Lord knows I am going to get slammed for this...but where is the white guy?
I am afraid that Congress, behind closed doors, is still a racist institution. I'm afraid that either person will not be as succesful in navigating those waters with ties back to India. (Or Russia, or China, etc.)
Actually, he helped bankrupt the Soviet Union. So yeah, I give him credit for helping free millions from oppression.
Then I hope it starts to get better soon, because there's nothing particularly interesting here.
Actually I think all those are interesting factoids. Mind you, they aren't necessarily representative of Obama's appointees or for that matter as bad as ones Bush made.
So the AG is from the Clinton admin. So he isn't a gun nut. Cry me a river.
It isn't a matter of him being a "gun nut" and trying to paint people who interpret the second amendment sanely as "nuts" does nothing to help your case. Whether they want to admit it or not, the second amendment clearly presents gun ownership as a personal right and there is tons of supporting documentation for that interpretation while pretty much just wishful thinking from the opposing camp. People who claim otherwise are just playing politics and trying to justify unconstitutional actions and laws because they thing it will get them or their party votes (which it often does). If a person is willing to basically lie about what the constitution says and usurp rights it protects (rather than getting the amendment overturned) then they are being unethical. You also have to wonder how they will interpret other very clear subjects in the constitution when it is to their benefit to misinterpret them.
Wake me when they're championing torture, bribing commentators, and making shady business deals in secret.
This is the "we're not as bad as China" defense constantly used by the Bush administration to try to paint their unethical acts as not as bad as others and therefor acceptable. It didn't fly then and it doesn't now.
It was never clear what, apart from the silly phrase "Seamless Mobility", she actually contributed.
While it would not be correct to pin the massive failings of this formerly great company solely upon her, it must be considered that she was elevated to the CTO position by a management regime whose combined avarice and comprehensive ineptitude are now undeniable.
Her qualifications are not stellar, and her actual record of performance at anything apart from being hired into high profile positions, is regrettably deficient.
It's true, one person working alone can't fix anything. Which is precisely why the pervasive cynicism is self-fulfilling.
A certain politician just got himself elected POTUS almost purely because he convinced a lot of people that he knows how to change all that. Maybe he's full of it, maybe not. But if he actually does what he claims he can do, it won't be through any top-down process. It'll be him and a lot of other people working with him, not for him.
Yeah, I drank the Obama koolaid. Still waiting to see if it stays down.