Obama Appoints Non-Tech Guy As CTO 252
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "President Barack Obama has named his chief technology officer, and the appointee is not a Silicon Valley name like so many predicted. He is Aneesh Chopra. As the Secretary of Technology for the Commonwealth of Virginia, his job has been to 'leverage technology in government reform, promote Virginia's innovation agenda, and foster technology-related economic development with a special emphasis on entrepreneurship.' But Chopra's not a tech guy. Before he got his secretary job in 2005, he was a managing director at the Advisory Board Company, a public-market health care think tank, as well as an angel investor."
O'Reilly Radar is running an article discussing why Chopra is a good choice for federal CTO.
Re:Say it ain't so, Obama (Score:0, Informative)
Re:Open Source Alternatives (Score:2, Informative)
I'd say teach using things like Ubuntu, Open Office, etc. for the most part. Then have some specific classes that teach the differences between Ubuntu and Windows, Open Office vs Microsoft Office, etc.
By doing so, you can literally give the students all the software they need at home, from which they'll learn all the skills they'll need.
And with the class that specifically covers Microsoft's products differences, they'll know the quirks of said products and it will require far less money, because they won't need to purchase Microsoft products to go to school.
Re:I don't get it... (Score:2, Informative)
Also, if I read your post correctly, you have a slight misunderstanding of US government. Both of our parliamentary bodies are elected by the people. The US Constitution doesn't exactly dictate how states choose senators, so it is theoretically possible that the first parliamentary body could elect the second. However, to my knowledge, all states choose senators based on some variation, at least, of a popular vote.
Re:non-tech Chief Technology Officer (Score:3, Informative)