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Is the Federal Government the Most Interesting Tech Startup For 2009?
With all of the recent focus on technology and the promises to continue "getting stuff done" by the US government, Techdirt's Masnick suggests that they might just be the most interesting tech startup to watch this year. "But, of course, talk is cheap (especially in politics). And, while Chopra (and Vivek Kundra, the government's CIO) both actually have a nice track record of accomplishing these sorts of goals in their past jobs, the proof is in what's actually getting done. We'd already mentioned at least one success story with the IT dashboard at USASpending.gov, but can it continue? I have to admit, a second thing that impressed me about Chopra was that, even with such a success, he didn't focus on it. The fact that he got together such a site in such a short period of time is impressive enough, and while he mentioned it in his talks, most of them were much more focused not on what he'd already done, but on what he was going to do — and the plans all seemed quite achievable.
No competent tech startup would pay $18 million for recovery.org
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
From that breathless paragraph.
It's the Government of the United States
Where hackers go to die
The largest, and yet the least efficient, producer of computer software in the world.
They should work with Obama to get executive orders and statutes written to position the federal government's management to not only hire 1099s like the private sector can, but to have that become the norm. One of the biggest reasons why federal IT is so expensive is because the federal government's management culture is still not conducive to having managers hire, direct and take responsibility for contract workers directly. If they could insource the project management en masse, that would shave an incredible amount of tax payer's money off of the cost of contracting as it would reduce the overhead that they pay to the big integrators to manage the projects (as well as pay HR, etc.)
Quite simply, the Federal Government is....The Most Interesting Tech Startup in the World!
If your idea of interesting is running 10 year old operating systems on 15 year old hardware then yes it is interesting.
If your idea of interesting is trying to run something new and being shut down by 10 year old policies, having the network gate keeper with the only word in there vocabulary is no then yes it is interesting.
If you think its so interesting head on over to usajobs.gov and waste some of your life. I'm heading back to private industry where were driven by profit or efficiency. Find the problem own the problem fix the problem. Not find the problem sit in two and half years of meetings discussing the problem and one day we can actually devote some funds to fixing the problem... 3-4 years later.
Vivek Kundra lied about his credentials, he was CEO of a company with only one person and he is only in his current position due to the widespread practice of cronyism.
No company in their right mind would pay 18 million for a website. There are many many websites that get more page views are were made for much less. To consider that website a success is a joke.
Just because you are wrong and I called you out on it doesn't mean I am a Troll.
Kundra is at worst a fraud and at best someone who is clueless. Listen to some of the things this guy says. http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2009/08/12/special-report-is-us-chief-information-officer-cio-vivek-kundra-a-phony/
No.
I thought the defining features of a startup were being small and not having any money.
There's companies out there like that? Every one I've ever worked at has been find the problem, pass the buck, blame others, pass again, hire an outside consultant too much to fix the problem, let him do a half assed job, declare success, give the manager in charge a bonus. Private is no better than government, government just has more due to scale and gets more publicity on their problems.
I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
you ever thought of what would happen without government? Lessee... The government runs the vast majority of water and sewer plants. No clean water to drink. Raw sewage in our rivers and lakes. The government controls the airways. Do you really want anarchy in the skies when you fly? The government builds virtually all of the roads in the US. Want to go back to the days of the toll roads of the last century? (Do some historical research first.) The government mandates most of the safety features on cars. Want to go back to the death traps of 1950s cars? The government provides fire fighting, EMS, and police protection. Read up on what used to happen when firefighters were private. So please, think before you drink any more Rush koolaid, OK? "Starving the beast" makes great rhetoric, but it's downright dumb as an idea and a way to live.
Spending $18,000,000.00 of my money is funny!?
No, its not. The US Federal Government has been in business continuously since the late 18th Century. Its not, by any sane standard, a startup.
It remains, as it has been for the whole time compting has existed, one of the biggest customers for (and funders of) new computing technology, and any major initiatives it has in that area will have potentially wide-ranging impact on the industry, but an established institution engaging in one or more new technology initiatives is a different beast than a tech startup.
Burn thru all their initial funding with little or nothing to show for it, then roll out something that's big on dreams and weak on funding, and then blame all your problems on your potential customers and not your busines plan.
Yep, sounds like a startup to me. Well, all except for step four, quietly fold up show and go away. That hasn't happened yet.
YET.
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
initially:
AND in the end:
Gov't the new tech startup? This is looking bad. Really bad.
"Reg: All right... all right... but apart from better sanitation and medicine and education and irrigation and public health and roads and a freshwater system and baths and public order... what have the Romans done for us?
Xerxes: Brought peace!
Reg: (very angry, he's not having a good meeting at all) What!? Oh... (scornfully) Peace, yes... shut up!"
What's this? Another weblog? On transit?
Also labor laws that keep your employer from killing you for the sake of money; environmental laws - before the EPA you could NOT drive past Monsanto in Sauget with the windows down, even in 100 degree heat and no AC; government is there to write and enforce laws that protect me from you.
Anyone should be able to see from the Bush/Cheney years what happens when you have people who think government is always the problem running the government.
Good job, Brownie.
Free Martian Whores!
The larger any organization becomes, the more bureaucracy is encountered. The pre-breakup AT&T rivaled the dividon of motor vehicles for its bureaucracy.
Free Martian Whores!
Who is John Galt?
Do you really want anarchy in the skies when you fly?
No. I mean, anarchy in the sky is the same as terrorism. Please save my war on terrorism. Also, I don't want junkies shooting up and smoking pot on airplanes so please save my war on drugs. And I don't want prisoners flying, so please keep my prisons. Oh god, do we need government to save my war on terrorism, my war on drugs, my prisons, and my police! It's the Conservative thing to do!
I hate it when Liberals talk about getting rid of the government I love so much!
</CONSERVATIVE HYPOCRISY>
Just callin' it like I see it.
It is still a far cry from open source government.
Ah yes. It's not so much the government that is the problem, it's those who run the government...
Just to note, the USASpending.gov website uses PHP for it website, data feed, and I'm sure a lot of processing behind the scenes. This goes to show that PHP is great for fast deployment of technologies, is very flexible, and can withhold large scale applications as long as they are created correctly.
On the other hand it does something useful....
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
My last few trips to the DMV were very surprising. The service was excellent and efficient, the prices were less than expected, the waits were short and the staff was knowledgeable. And this is in a solidly liberal big city, where coincidentally, Obama has his family home. I don't know in what backwater you had problems with the DMV, but if you ever have to get something done in the DMV here in Chicago, you may find that your talking point is out of date.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Your wasting your time. He hasn't even thought about what would happen without his mommy yet.
You are welcome on my lawn.
"The government controls the airways. Do you really want anarchy in the skies when you fly? "
Funny you should mention that. One of the biggest pushes in the industry is "free flight", which would allow airlines to plot their own routes to avoid weather, etc. Now they are constrained to certain corridors. The corridors were developed for flight safety, so everyone would know where everyone was and collisions would be avoided - aka, avoid "anarchy in the skies". The problem is that technology and situations change, and now it is arguably MORE dangerous to fly in those corridors because they are so crowded and they artificially constrain the system, resulting in more time in the air for planes and passengers. Cockpit radar and navigation systems have gotten better by orders of magnitude, so why are we not changing to a less risky system?
As for fire departments, you are aware that there are sizable populations in the US served by volunteer fire companies.
Just because the government has done some things well in the past doesn't mean that they are the answer to all our problems, nor even that they should keep doing those things as the situation changes.
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
So, how much did we really spend because Obama and Biden wanted to order a burger *in person*. It would be too much trouble to ask the staff, you know.
Remember, none this would be happening if the Republicans had won the election. The McCain team would be following Bush, figuring out better ways of losing all their email so future courts couldn't convict them of anything.
Talk is really expensive in politics. But most of the cost is hidden.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
"Free flight" over the Pacific is one thing. Do you really want to free flight at, say, O'Hare? As for the fire departments, even volunteer fire departments have to comply with standards, and only the firefighters are volunteers. The facility, engines, and training are likely paid for by taxes. I don't know of a single FD that is run out of someone's living room, using private vehicles. I don't believe the gov't is the answer to all our problems, just as I don't believe it is the source of all problems. Government does certain things very, very well, and others poorly. Just like private industry. I refuse the neocon mantra that all government is a cesspool of waste and private industry is always the knight in shining armor.
this is just the beginning. see the dvorak article... /facepalm
http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2009/08/12/special-report-is-us-chief-information-officer-cio-vivek-kundra-a-phony/
should've gone with the dude from cisco.
"If still these truths be held to be
Self evident."
-Edna St. Vincent Millay
Kundra is at worst a fraud and at best someone who is clueless.
And you attempt to demonstrate this by linking to well-known clueless fraud, John C. Dvorak? Excuse me while my head explodes.
... and then they built the supercollider.
Government is a large monopoly that happens to own the court system and gets its money through taxation.
Oh, wow, a straw-man!.. Let's see...
There are a few things the Federal Government ought to be running, but it was already running all of them before the Federal Income Tax was (re-)introduced in 1913 — the highest rate being 7% on incomes above $500,000 ($10 million 2007 dollars).
The beast has been growing ever since and has reached scary dimensions by now. It is even trying to consume our health care now — whether it succeeds at that or not, that it is even trying is bad enough. It simply defies all comprehension, that — after the decades of mediocrity, outright failures, and spectacular cost over-runs of highways, Postal Service, Public Schools, MediCare — anybody still holds the opinion, that a Government taking over a part of life from private sector will improve it...
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
There's companies out there like that? Every one I've ever worked at has been find the problem, pass the buck, blame others, pass again, hire an outside consultant too much to fix the problem, let him do a half assed job, declare success, give the manager in charge a bonus. Private is no better than government, government just has more due to scale and gets more publicity on their problems.
What you described is the typical publicly traded corporation, not a private company. Private companies are managed in a much tighter way, and mid-managers get away with much, much less crap than the chaotic world of publicly traded corporations where executives only pretend that they have the shareholders' interest at heart, while all they want is a very-short-term semblance of improvement, and then cash in and leave, and then join another such company.
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
I thought the defining features of a startup were being small and not having any money.
No, they are having a ton of hubris and burning other people's money at prodigious rates.
Fits the government to a T. Why buy one private jet, when you can buy three just in case...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Pretty soon they'll be the ONLY startup, if you know what I mean! Argh! Socialism! Death Panels! Dogs and cats sleeping together! I'm sorry. I'm working a lot of overtime and I'm really not sure where I even am at the moment. Just mod me into oblivion. Thank you and good night.
the government is finally embracing 10-year-old technology. before you know it, they'll abandon fax machines. you have to be innovative from a technological point of view before you can be called innovative.
Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
"Thank you for your interest in how the federal government is spending its money and we hope you enjoy USAspending.gov " I went to the website USAspending.gov, as linked in the slashdot article on govt/technology. The above is the last line in the show.... "ITS" money?????? I always thought it was OUR money the fg was spending! Was this a slip of the tongue or a tongue-in-cheek statement? thanks for lis'nin' seekertom
Finally someone on the same page as me! :) My comment above was "-1 Overrated", and the GP is outright a troll now...
The whole point of this posting was about the Federal government largesse, somehow it deteriorated into the predictable "But, who would build the highways!!!??? OMG!" argument. :(
For the record, the first trans-continental US highway was built using private funds (the original Lincoln Highway, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Highway); in any case highways now are supposed to be funded by the *gas tax*.
Fire departments are, as far as I know, funded by local taxes (as they should, how would someone in Washington, DC know how much $$ to allocate to protect homes in the middle of nowhere? ). Same with the schools...
As to the Post Office, I am wondering if the poster above would really use it to send an important "package" via it or FedEx/UPS/etc. (by law latter are not allowed to deliver "letters", thus thick heavy envelopes one must use to send a simple cheque overnight).
Paul B.
The beast has been growing ever since and has reached scary dimensions by now.
Interestingly (and by "interestingly," I mean "unsurprisingly") the American public disagrees with you. All
It is even trying to consume our health care now â" whether it succeeds at that or not, that it is even trying is bad enough.
Especially since the private sector has been so successful in holding down costs. Why is it that prescription drugs are 10 times as expensive in the US than Canada? Am I really supposed to believe that the entire Canadian is a profit loss? Why is the "fix" to (sometimes) allow reimportation of drugs? Why is it that healthcare is routinely denied (i.e. "rationed")? Why is it I can turn on my television and see an advertisement where a woman is talking about how her insurance refused to pay for catheters, and so she has to buy them from someplace else? The stellar system where private sector bureaucrats decide what treatment to pay for, or if even someone should remain on the insurance rolls? The system where some middle manager decides if my doctor is on a list of approved doctors? The system where premiums are rising 3 times inflation. That system? Oh yeah. Best in the world. If your criteria is costs. Performace? 37th. Overall health? 72nd. Goddamn those "socialist" Swedes.
It simply defies all comprehension, that â" after the decades of mediocrity, outright failures, and spectacular cost over-runs of highways
I don't see any private sector highways. No one is stopping anyone from buying up a bunch of land and paving it. Why not? Especially since every private sector endeavor comes in on budget on time.
, Postal Service
Name the private sector company that has door-to-door residential pickup to any address in the United States, six days a week, for 44 cents, and 2 day shipping for 3 dollars?
Public Schools
Damn those universities.
MediCare
Do you mean the Medicare that is extremely popular , more trusted than private insurance, and is the single largest insurer in the United States? The insurance that can't be revoked? The insurance that the private sector commits the most fraud against? That one? No obviously not. You must be speaking about some other hither-to-unknown medicare.
â" anybody still holds the opinion, that a Government taking over a part of life from private sector will improve it...
obviously isn't blind to the gross abuses and inefficiencies of the private sector.
Personally I love how the insurance companies are saying "ZOMG! The big inefficient, ne'er do well federal government is going to run us out of business!" Wait? The people you just called a walking clusterfuck are going to run you out of business? How fucked up are you then?!
Actually the last time I visited the DMV it was also a good trip. My wallet had been stolen, and it only took five minutes and five dollars (and a bank statement to prove I was me) for them to give me a duplicate license. I didn't even have to be rephotographed.
In years past, a visit there was pure hell. You live in Chicago I see (Obama), I'm down in Springfield. It seems that our SoS is doing a damned good job, far better than most of the goofs that came before him.
Free Martian Whores!
Who is John Galt?
A fictional character of no real importance outside of a overly verbose novel promoting a specific set of socio-economic ideas of dubious value in the real world.
N/T
And yes, every day we hear articles about unreasonable employers, discriminatory practices, and abuse of employees (particularly in IT, that being a large portion of the site visitors).
When your employer has you working salary with constant unpaid overtime, calling you after hours, on weekends, or even on holidays, what do you do?
When you're stuck working said OT because the company refuses to purchase adequate equipment and you're constantly fixing broken crap, what do you do?
When your employee circumvents safe-practises at work (resulting in more OT and general stress), what do you do?
When you're fired because your boss decided to outsource from [cheap country X], hire his brother's son instead, or maybe because you complained about having to work OT while your wife and kids are ready to leave (because you're never there), what do you do?
Well, one option is to find another job. The problem is that when you're already working massive OT, where do you find the time to update resumes, job-search, and attend interviews, even in a market that's not depressed as it is in many cases now? Often enough [new job] might be as bad or worse than [old job]. For the same reasons you have no time/cash/etc for upgrading your education to get [better job].
Another option is to sue. You might even win, but when you've gone nearly bankrupt because you're unemployed and your employer has a LOT more money and better lawyers than you, that doesn't work so well either. They can afford to drag their feet in court, whereas you can't.
Yes, there are plenty of bad points to unions. They have power, and power can corrupt. When they're asking for stupid things, feel free to complain. But bitching about them just because they don't have to work in the same shit conditions you do is not cool either.
One argument is that union workers are lazy/overpaid. I made a significant more money working private. I was also on the verge of relationship collapse and my hair was literally turning prematurely grey/white. I went back to a public-sector job because they treat me LIKE A HUMAN BEING. When I work, I am more than happy to put in my full effort during work hours (and beyond, as special circumstances warrant). What I don't want to do is be constantly working like a dog during MY TIME, and constantly fighting fires because it's cheaper for most companies to overwork their current employees than retain adequate staff, equipment or standards.
Whatever your complains about unions, those are the things that stand against, and why I was happy to take a pay cut for an increased quality-of-life.
And before you call me lazy, or whatever. My previous (private-sector) manager many times stated I was one of the best workers he had. Unfortunately that meant I was generally handed the "heavy lifting" because I could be expected to get it done. I don't blame the guy - he worked more hours than anyone in the company - but management above him always seemed to have the opinion that employees were expendable resources.