-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 T. Kenji Sugahara wrote: | Thanks for the feedback everyone. | | I agree that Open Source would help but how do you avoid the problems | below? | | This whole process supports an industry of leeches who are masters | at selling BS to governments. They know exactly how to maneuver | through the government agencies, kiss the right butts, and get the | contracts, thanks to lowballing their quotes with lame solutions. | Skilled, talented folks get pushed right out the door because - well | - skill and talent tends to cost more. Talented people aren't | willing to work for $4.00 an hour. Morons are. Morons also don't | need to worry about reputation since they can just sucker the next | agency out of some money and move along. | | | and... In the state government, the acquisition of technology seems to | be driven by hired consultants. They usually set the RFP's and, I | believe, almost have to have a conflict of interest to be successful. In | essence, a consultant usually has pre-existing relationships with | vendors. Oftentimes, that means that they will choose the technology | they know over the one they don't. They will probably slant any RFP to | see that it goes to one of the vendors whose tech they trust, even if an | alternative might be cheaper or better. How do we avoid this situation? | Is there an improvement to the RFP or technology acquisition process you | can envision? | John Latimer (sp?) is the head of Oregons computing Dept. His background is a beancounter. When I talked to him, I can see why they hire computer consultants. If the state goes to OpenSource, the maintaince cost would drop like a rock. If any bugs are found, they can be fixed within the staet with out waiting. Shaun Savage -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.0.7 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQE9d8ZUn6I06Opz+XURAkRFAJ9IW46QgQNV66Tw8kOJCL2Cww/haACeJeU0 IKwSH/oZ5xjUAnSjA0ISoLY= =XFYS -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
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