Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
> __/ [ [H]omer ] on Friday 09 March 2007 03:29 \__
>
>> Verily I say unto thee, that Roy Schestowitz spake thusly:
>>> NPfIT champion suspended after speaking out
>>>
>>> ,----[ Quote ]
>>> | A prime mover in the much maligned National Programme for IT has
>>> | been suspended from his job at its lead supplier after speaking
>>> | openly about its problems.
>>> `----
>>>
>>> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/08/folk_hero/
>>>
>>> This reminded me of the analyst who lost his job after criticising Windows
>>> for its poor security.
>>
>> This is a remarkable story.
>>
>> Following the link to the article detailing exactly *what* he said that
>> got him into so much hot water, I found the details quite shocking,
>> although rather amusing too. I shouldn't really be amused though, since
>> that's my taxpayer's money getting flushed down the toilet.
>>
>> He variously described the project as (paraphrasing somewhat) "a
>> racehorse that turned out to be a camel", "a sinking ship", "a man
>> walking on a tightrope", "a vacuum", "a chasm", a project that "isn't
>> working, and it isn't going to work", "coming apart", and "desperate to
>> get something in and make it work".
>>
>> Then Fujitsu says "Rollerson's remarks have been misinterpreted. Pushing
>> the English language almost to breaking point".
>>
>> ROTFL!
>>
>> Yes, I'm sure we all misinterpreted the meaning of the sinking ship
>> analogy. LOL! Looks like the only thing "at breaking point" is Fujitsu
>> ... and the taxpayers' patience.
>
> Maybe it was very deliberate. He left no room for misinterpretation.
I'm quite sure that it was deliberate. I suspect it was because he was
rather naively hoping that the whole thing could be turned around. The
fact is that, in spite of the references to the space programme, this
project is far more complex, with far more dependencies and way more
internal politics involved, and is never likely to be successful. It's
fantastic for the companies involved because they get to trouser a load
of cash and probably won't need to deliver anything in the end anyway.
Lucky them...
> You know
> how there will always be rebuttals and spins. You anticipate it. Today in
> MSDN, for example, Microsoft claims that its "call home" data dump,
> triggered by hitting "cancel" in WGA, is just XML (wow! XML! That's like
> Open something, ain't it?). And don't forget their rebuttals to the
> OpenDocument Alliance...
>
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
>| Holy crapula, Brian Jones just committed a Fox News ploy: declare
>| victory in the midst of stunning defeat and rejection, and go home.
>| Nice little rhetorical trick if you can get away with it. But not
>| so fast, Brian. Has anyone else noticed the moratorium on OXML blog
>| posts by Microsoft employees recently? Now you get a flood of silly
>| posts about "choice," "compatibility," and "no format wars." A few
>| of the ZDNet crowd is pushing OXML like crack dealers in their
>| blogs, as if their jobs depended on Microsoft. (Oh wait, they do,
>| don't they?) Problem is, there never was a format war because OXML
>| is and will never be a universal ISO-certified file format. Game
>| over. Microsoft lost. Two-thirds of the JTC1 nations rejected OXML
>| outright due to its innumerable contradictions that were found in
>| the first 30 days. Fast-tracking via Ecma didn't work as Microsoft
>| planned. The review period was extended for an unprecedented 90
>| more days and so far Microsoft is flummoxed and silent in response
>| to OXML's inherent flaws and weaknesses.
> `----
>
> http://talkback.zdnet.com/5208-12558-0.html?forumID=1&threadID=30920&messageID=573775&start=-1
> http://tinyurl.com/3bg58t
>
> Or DRM in Vista...
>
> Microsoft spins DRM tale in 'blog'
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
>| Microsoft can't come clean, can't talk honestly, and won't do
>| anything to protect its customers. Keep that in mind when you
>| are buying your next PC, if you buy one with Vista pre-installed,
>| you are funding the very people who are actively hurting you.
> `----
>
> http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37091
>
>
> The Longest Suicide Note in History
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
>| Gutmann: The genie's out of the bottle before the operating system has even
>| been released! But that doesn't mean Vista users in particular - and
>| the computer community at large - won't end up paying for Microsoft's
>| DRM folly. At the risk of repeating myself repeating myself, yet
>| another reason to move to Linux.
> `---- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/tux-love/2007/01/the_longest_suicide_note_in_hi.html
>
>
--
| Mark Kent -- mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk |
| Cola faq: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/linux/advocacy/faq-and-primer/ |
| Cola trolls: http://colatrolls.blogspot.com/ |
|
|
