My OperaCommunity project in 'It can be done' shock, horror.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009 12:00:00 AM
The UK government is currently getting static from the opposition because a new computer system for the NHS is way behind schedule and way over budget. This is fair enough, once upon a time the current government were the opposition and they on more than one occasion handed out similar contumely to the then government. All new computer systems behave this way. The sales people come up with a timeline and price based upon the ideal, and the people doing the work get stuck with the reality.
Or do they?
Birmingham County Council also ordered a new computer system and found it arriving late and way over budget, what's more when it did finally get up and running it didn't work properly. This too, we have been led to believe, is par for the course. Anything with this many lines of code is bound to contain mistakes than can only be found with use. Some of the good people of Birmingham decided it didn't have to be that way. Working on their own they started a community project, building up bits of the system between them. Other people joined to program the bits that they were good at, and ultimately they came up with a mirror of the council site, except this one worked, below cost and ahead of time.
May I suggest at this point that anyone thinking of "upgrading" to Windows 7 should upgrade to Linux instead?
Or do they?
Birmingham County Council also ordered a new computer system and found it arriving late and way over budget, what's more when it did finally get up and running it didn't work properly. This too, we have been led to believe, is par for the course. Anything with this many lines of code is bound to contain mistakes than can only be found with use. Some of the good people of Birmingham decided it didn't have to be that way. Working on their own they started a community project, building up bits of the system between them. Other people joined to program the bits that they were good at, and ultimately they came up with a mirror of the council site, except this one worked, below cost and ahead of time.
May I suggest at this point that anyone thinking of "upgrading" to Windows 7 should upgrade to Linux instead?
