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Trump Promises a Federal Technology Overhaul To Save $1 Trillion (technologyreview.com)
New submitter threc shares a report from MIT Technology Review: The tech world descended on Washington, D.C. yesterday to attend a tech summit at the White House. According to MIT Technology Review associate editor Jamie Condliffe: "Trump suggested he might relax his stance on immigration as a way to get tech leaders to help his cause. 'You can get the people you want,' he told the assembled CEOs. That sweetener may be a response to a very vocal backlash in the tech world against the administration's recent travel bans. Trump may hope that his business-friendly stance will offer enough allure: if tech giants scratch his back, he may later deign to scratch theirs." The report continues: "'Our goal is to lead a sweeping transformation of the federal government's technology that will deliver dramatically better services for citizens,' said Trump at the start of his meeting with the CEOs, according to the Washington Post. 'We're embracing big change, bold thinking, and outsider perspectives.' The headline announcement from the event was Trump's promise to overhaul creaking government computing infrastructure. According to Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law and advisor, there's much to be done: federal agencies have over 6,000 data centers that could be consolidated, for instance, while the 10 oldest networks in use by the government are all at least 39 years old. The upgrade, said Trump, could save the country $1 trillion over the next 10 years."
Government tech contractors and the tech sector aren't very closely related.
Government contractors know how to game the procurement system. They are customers of the tech sector, not part of it.
There is not a single money saving technology that these leaches can't turn into a money pit. The problem is the procurement system.
The same contractors that game H1B, game the procurement system, weaseling is their 'core competency'. Getting the out of the business and getting competent groups working for the government is an 'impossible dream'.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
Oh, I'll agree that if Trump is good at anything, it's self-promotion and posturing.
But I honestly think that he thought some of his campaign promises (the border wall among them) were doable, and he's so far out of his depth with not just political reality, but reality itself, that he doesn't understand why it can't be done with a snap of his fingers.
Trump's big problem (wait, I've narrowed it down to just one?) is that he expects the government to work in the same way that a corporation works. He's the CEO of the United States, and damnit, he should be able to snap his fingers and big projects are started.
Except that it doesn't work that way, and it never has.
I lost track of how many times I've had to explain to Republicans/right-leaning independents that, no, the border wall could not be started on Day One of the Trump Presidency, because of silly things like land surveys, and floodwater surveys, and so forth.
Sometimes, it even got through to them.
Mr. Hu is not a ninja.
Hiring free market, limited government judges.
Relaxing burdensome regulations - coal mine opening (and no the coal is not used for heating or electricity but for the production of steel)
Pushing for (instead of against) the Keystone Pipeline
Pushing for (instead of against) fracking
Pushing for (instead of against) off-shore drilling
Getting out of the TPP
Getting out of the Paris Treaty
You may agree, or disagree with what's being done. I certainly have my problems with Trump and the Republicans. But you need to stop lying to yourself and others that nothing is being done and that goals are not being accomplished. And, as you mentioned, increased funding and activity on illegal immigration.
If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
Vote 3rd Party in 2016 and beyond
Trump lies constantly
Sessions met with Russian ambassador. Reality, he was at a gala with hundreds of people and Sessions didn't even know ambassador was present.
DNC demanded he resign because of that meeting that didn't happen.
Flynn broke the law. Sketchy details on what he did. Reality is Flynn filled out wrong form when declaring he was paid by Turkey, not that he hid or failed to declare, just wrong form.
DNC demanded he be jailed.
Russia and Trump colluded to fake election. Reality, not a shred of evidence from ANYONE.
DNC demanded he resign or be impeached.
Russia threw the election. Reality, DNC servers hacked and they paid a private company to say Russia did it. DNC refused to let FBI examine servers. Private company will not testify under oath that Russia did it anymore. FBI now has ZERO evidence of Russia even interfering.
Comey leaked information, which is questionable at best, as a disgruntled employee in order to get a special council appointed for something he knows no evidence exists for.
And Trump is the one who lies constantly?
Oh boy, the left has YET to say anything truthful since Trump has been elected. Ossof was also going to win BIG in Georgia last night too, but I guess that was Trump lying again. Its apparent to most of the country that Trump isn't the compulsive liar here. Its the DNC party who had been telling you Trump is days away from impeachment for literally months now and there is still zero chance of it happening.
I think you are calling the wrong person a liar.
The bar is set rather low, however. After the most tech-savvy President ever effed-up his own promise to revamp the government, if Trump achieves something — anything — he'll still have done better than the predecessor. Not that you'd know about any such success — unless you are paying really close attention — from the established reporters.
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
Obama isn't president anymore so has zero relevance to the story at hand which is about Trump.
Hush! We're busy getting our foot into the Chinese door, keep the orange dud busy a bit more, will ya?
---love, Europe.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
FWIW, one of the first government tech investments ended up going waaay over-budget, but also ended up saving insurmountable amounts of labor costs; it saved massive amounts of money in the long-run, and ended up setting us up as the early leader in the realm of computing. So, thanks 1890 US Census Bureau.
I don't agree with all the H1-B hate. The alternative is that those jobs are leaving altogether and not coming back. Like you said, billions saved, so if H1-Bs didn't exist than those American tech companies would go broke to international competitors due to higher cost, or the companies would simply outsource the IT to an international company.
Baloney. If those jobs could have been moved overseas, they would have. These workers are imported because the work itself is not mobile -- the systems, data and other personnel can't be moved to India for practical or regulatory reasons.
Even a badly paid H1-B worker is much more expensive to employ in the US than in India. To achieve savings, they have to bring the worker here.
This is undercutting American wages, pure and simple. And don't start on me with "if you have the skills", either. A lot of people getting dumped for H1-Bs aren't zit-faced 20-somethings clicking next, but older workers with deep skills and experience.
Don't buy into the fantasy that YOUR job isn't oursourcable because of your unique knowledge and skills. That's the self-reinforcing myth of the long-term IT expansion -- I'm too valuable to be outsourced or replaced. No, it's just that t the demand for IT talent *in your area of expertise* just hasn't reached equilibrium yet. When it does, I'm sure you'll enjoy being lectured by someone on how you should have kept up, but you still have the chance to start your career over with "skills the market needs."