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Google Drops Cloud Lawsuit Against US Government

Posted by Soulskill on from the seeing-eye-to-ear dept.

jfruhlinger writes "A year ago, Google sued the U.S. government because the government's request for proposals for a cloud project mandated Microsoft Office; Google felt, for obvious reasons, that this was discriminatory. Google has now withdrawn the suit, claiming that the Feds promised to update their policies (PDF) to allow Google to compete. The only problem is that the government claims it did no such thing."

11 of 86 comments (clear)

  1. Well, then... by mat+catastrophe · · Score: 3, Funny

    It appears Google's Jedi mind tricks won't work on the US government.

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    1. Re:Well, then... by cormandy · · Score: 2

      These are not the online productivity tools you are looking for...

    2. Re:Well, then... by SirGarlon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      We're talking about Microsoft Office, not productivity tools. ;-)

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      [Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
    3. Re:Well, then... by bsDaemon · · Score: 2

      I actually really like Office, even Office 2010 believe it or not. I find Google Docs to be horrible and cause more problems than anything else. Open/Libre Office just isn't there yet. I'm not saying it couldn't be, I'm just saying that its the type of project that requires corporate sponsorship and paid coders because office suites aren't "cool".

      Star Office fell by the wayside and got turned into Open Office in a Netscape-like death-throw. Word Perfect could have won the word processor game, but they sat on their asses too long and now no one but lawyers and weirdos uses it anymore. Say what you want about Microsoft from a techie/nerdy perspective, but face it -- when it comes to business and productivity applications, they really have their ducks in a row. Viso is sine qua non, and there is nothing else that touches it. The ribbon in Office takes some time to get used to, but I wouldn't really want to go back to the old interface at this point.

      My office subscribes to google docs, largely for email and calendar. the actual "docs" part of google docs is a piece of crap that no one can work with, but not for the fact that half the people in engineering use Linux and everyone not in engineering has a Mac. I have Linux and FreeBSD in VMs and run Windows as a host because I can't live without Visio and Google Docs pisses me the fuck off when I'm trying to write documentation or project proposals. I even use Office on my MBP because, lets face it, iWork is for degenerate hippies.

      When Google Docs or Open Office can open a doc or docx without exploding for the formatting all over the place and making the document unusable until you jigger it back into more-or-less the same way it was supposed to be, only to be completely broken for the original party when you send it back, then maybe it would make sense to consider them. Until then, I really think they're only good for situations where you're not actually doing work for money and needing to inter-operate between many different people, some of whom are not using them.

    4. Re:Well, then... by jittles · · Score: 2

      We're talking about Microsoft Office, not productivity tools. ;-)

      I have to supply documentation to the government that complies with MIL-STD-498. Google Docs, Open Office, LibreOffice, etc do not have enough functionality to comply with the standard. This has to do with sections, table of contents, table of authorities, etc. So you may be joking, but there is a reason that Office is a valid requirement.

    5. Re:Well, then... by SirGarlon · · Score: 2

      Yeah, I was being snarky and perhaps overly unkind to Microsoft. I never expected to be modded "insightful--" I was hoping for "funny." Often the line between the two is blurry... Anyway, I think the merits of MS Word are debatable (die, ribbon bar, die! die! die!) but PowerPoint is the best software I never want to use. If your boss makes you produce slideware (and mine does), basically, everything else is garbage compared to PowerPoint for features and usability.

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      [Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
  2. Re:Google has an option ... by icebraining · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Except the government is not allowed to discriminate, while you are, and for good reasons. Google sued because it affected them, obviously, but it also affects the citizens since they're the ones paying.

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  3. hate to quote the prequels, but... by Brucelet · · Score: 2

    Mind tricks don't work on me. Only money.

  4. Re:Google has an option ... by Dr_Barnowl · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The reverse is true - Google had no option to bid on the project, because the RFP specified that the only product that would fulfil the requirements was Microsoft Office.

    If the rules require you to have an RFP in the first place, they are intended to support competition. If you carefully phrase your RFP to only permit bids from one vendor, you are circumventing that intention.

    It's like you requesting bids from paint manufacturers for white paint to paint your house with, and inserting a clause that says "Must be Dulux® brand paint"

  5. Solution! by Vinegar+Joe · · Score: 2

    Obama should simply invite everyone over for pizza and beer!

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    "The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
  6. Re:Google has an option ... by BBCWatcher · · Score: 2

    Then the agency shouldn't put out an RFP. They should issue a purchase order, as a sole-source procurement. It's either an open bid or it isn't. If the government agency is pretending it's an open bid when it isn't, then the agency is both misrepresenting its business dealings to the public and wasting bidders' time.