Hi Peter:
I was working for the National Archives Trust Fund when I was put out of work
by the COTS mentality. I had written a perl web based accounting system for
the NATF which was working like a charm and met all requirements. NARA spent
over 7 years and 6 million dollars to replace a system that could be developed
and managed by a single person. And the commercial software still doesn't meet
the requirements and can't come close to the performance I was getting with
perl.
There was no stopping this government boondoggle since it created jobs for
Clinton's friends. Even with all the user complaints that the new system was
slower, less reliable and harder to use than my system. They are now doing
thing by hand that I had automated. There were so many companies involved with
the design of the replacement system that they can't even point a finger when
there is a problem.
I've been fighting a war the past seven years. Some talented Apache web
developers were also hurt as NARA was simply determined to eliminate any open
source software solutions. I still can't believe it. This was your Y2K tax
money at work!
Bob Rice
Peter Scott wrote:
> At 05:57 PM 3/14/01 -0600, Brent Michalski wrote:
> >>If I need something done, and the choice is between using
> >>Open Source, free-of-charge, fix-the-bugs-yourself $TOOL1 and proprietary,
> >>closed source, $TOOL2 with a yearly support contract of $5000, I most
> >>likely suggest to boss to go for $TOOL2, because THAT IS CHEAPER. [1]
> >
> >We also had a huge support contract - that is how we were "privileged"
> >enough to actually talk to real live Microsoft people. However, support
> >contract or not - they chose not to fix it.
>
> I have participated in more than one project which bought a COTS tool for
> $50k, then spent $400k+ on consulting, integration, and tech support from
> the vendor to try and get it to perform capabilities which were believed to
> be out-of-the box functionality. Most support contracts don't guarantee
> anything other than a prompt answer.
> --
> Peter Scott
> Pacific Systems Design Technologies
