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Microsoft Sinks Teeth Into New Orleans 370

Posted by timothy from the city-stinks-bad-enough-already dept.
An anonymous reader writes: "The New Orleans Times-Picayune is reporting that Mayor Nagin is considering letting Microsoft upgrade the city's computers free of charge. The catch? New Orleans eventually has to buy the software and Microsoft gets to use the city as a marketing model to push this on the rest of the country." According to the article, a similar system Microsoft developed for Oklahoma "is expected to expand into accident reporting, video arraignment and automated pawn-shop-ticket tracking." So don't worry about privacy -- it's all taken care of. Open bidding's taken care of too: "Because these services are considered a gift, the city won't have to publicly bid the project." Sounds like dirty pool to me.
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Microsoft Sinks Teeth Into New Orleans More

Microsoft Sinks Teeth Into New Orleans

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  • Handcuffs (Score:2, Insightful)

    by !splut ( 512711 )
    Consider these handcuffs a gift from Microsoft.

    Go ahead. Try them on. Fits real nice, huh?

    You will, of course, have to pay for them later.

    -----

  • EULA? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Xtraneous ( 594376 ) <Xtraneous AT comcast DOT net> on Saturday August 17, 2002 @10:30AM (#4088825)
    Does the entire city now have to read and agree to microsoft's EULA?

  • At least it's better than suing (Score:4, Insightful)

    by WildBeast ( 189336 ) on Saturday August 17, 2002 @10:31AM (#4088828) Journal
    They're offering them a good deal, they're not suing them. For the non-initiated, it's called business.

    • c'mon! (Score:4, Insightful)

      by eddy ( 18759 ) on Saturday August 17, 2002 @10:43AM (#4088882) Homepage Journal

      If they're indeed trying to get around the open bidding requirement (I assume such exists), then it's called dirty business.

    • "My father assured him that when he left, either his brains or his signature would be on that contract."

      Yeah, it's just business.

      (FWIW, considering the city would have likely gone with MS products anyway, this is a slightly better deal.)

    • Actually, last I saw, Bill Gates was trading copies of Windows 2000 Server and SQL Server for a set of beads.
    • Government is actually supposed to be representative of the people it serves. See, businesses are profit-making ventures, while governments are created and sustained ostensibly to protect, educate, and sustain the population. While governments conduct businesses, they are not businesses, nor should they be.

      Yes, yes, corporate America could run government much better than elected officials. Of course they could. If only the chiefs of AOL, Enron, Philip Morris, and Worldcom were running our local, state, and federal governments, things would be so much more efficient.

  • SCMODS (Score:5, Funny)

    by Redline ( 933 ) on Saturday August 17, 2002 @10:37AM (#4088851) Homepage Journal
    From the Article:
    New Orleans police will be using a system Microsoft developed for the state of Oklahoma. Dubbed the Offender Data Information System, the system can link dozens of law enforcement agencies, jails and court systems.

    From the Blues Brothers:
    Elwood:"I bet these cops got SCMODS."
    Jake:"SCMODS?"
    Elwood:"State, County, Municiple Offender Data System."
    Jake:"Shit!"

    • Elwood:"I bet these cops got SCMODS."

      Jake:"SCMODS?"

      Elwood:"State, County, Municiple Offender Data System."

      Jake:"Shit!"

      [ Cops remain in cruiser for 5 minutes, waiting for Windoze to reboot...]

      [ Camera pans to Police Data Display, as the MS logo changes to white characters on a blue background. ]

      Cop: "Shit! It's the blue screen of death! Again!"

      [ Cop steps out of car, approached Jake & Elwood ]

      Cop: "Well Elwood, I would run a more thorough search, but our computers are down, I'll have to let you off with just a warning."

      Elwood: "Have you guys ever heard of Linux?

      Cop: What's that? Does it link to my GPS database of doughnut shops?

      Elwood: Never mind.

  • Hmmm...Not good. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by robpoe ( 578975 ) on Saturday August 17, 2002 @10:38AM (#4088854)
    It shuts out network OS competition, and it shuts out hundreds of companies that develop applications for cities and governments.

    A lot of cities and their respective police departments have a "no gift" policy. In other words, an officer or government official cannot accept a gift - as it could be seen as a bribe.

    No. Wait. It *is* a bribe.

    "Here, take this software for free so you will be stuck in my neverending upgrade cycle. You'll have to pay me later, then pay me again when you go to upgrade."

    Something stinks here..
    • Now M$ gets to have a base of operation where the officials are officially corrupt (I know an ex-Nor'leans cop,) and where chyrrosis of the liver is death by natural causes.

      They can stop worrying about those pesky revenuers now.

      You buy "Boudreau" or "Thibodeau", real cheap, and they stays bought as long as you can pay. I ga-ron-tee eet.

      Think of it as "SeaLand" [http://www.sealandgov.com/] without the kiddie-porn restrictions.

    • Re:Hmmm...Not good. (Score:3, Insightful)

      by donutello ( 88309 )
      A lot of cities and their respective police departments have a "no gift" policy. In other words, an officer or government official cannot accept a gift - as it could be seen as a bribe.
       (emphasis mine)

      It is not ok for an officer to accept a gift for themselves. This is a gift to the city. There's a HUGE difference.
      • How can they call this a "gift" if there are strings attatched? The city *has* to buy the software, eventually, and they have to let Microsoft use them in commercials.

        It may not be money they're paying with, but they are paying.
    • "It shuts out network OS competition, and it shuts out hundreds of companies that develop applications for cities and governments."

      Nope, reread the article, it doesn't say anything about NOLA being restricted to using ONLY MS products.

      Further, IFF you know anything about MS server products, the consulting and aftermarket business they generate is astonishing.If you're running an MS shop, you will quickly learn the meaning of TCO. And network security. And data redundancy.

      "It *is* a bribe."

      One man's bribe is another man inducement. Whether we're talking about Triple Coupon Day, Zero Dollars Down on a Lexus, Zero Percent Financing on a Chevy or a Free Hot Wax with every Car Wash on Tuesday.

      MS don't have any real position in goverment software systems, so they can't be accused of market domination. That means they're safe from any legal blowback.

      HEY, I HAVE AN IDEA!!!!

      Why doesn't RedHat or Mandrake or Debian make a counter-offer to NOLA to provide them with LINUX systems, tit for tat, for all the services that MS is offering?

      Think what a great headline that would be for LINUX.

      "Entire City of New Orleans goes OpenSource."

      That's how you play and that's how you beat them. Competition. The Amurrican Way.

      BTW, you do realize, don't you, that this is a rather BIG validation of "free software" (small 'f"), and MS has done little in the last few years but tell everyone that "free software is worth what you pay for it.

      Interesting, that they're "giving it away".

      What could that mean? HMMMMMMMM

      • The problem is that there was no bid process. Clearly Microsoft gains in this, or they wouldn't do it. Shouldn't others be able to show how their solution would be even better for the city long-term, and the potential problems with the existing solution?

        This is the entire reason that government entities have bid processes - to make sure that noone is slimeballing their way into making the city pay out large sums of money. In this case, the payment is delayed, but the lock-in is evident.
        • You missed my point(s), perhaps i was unclear

          1. This is an HUGE OPPORTUNITY for some LINUX distro and Company with hair to get some media exposure (FREE marketing -- hard to comeby in this world).

          2. If NOLA + MS is going to short-circuit the bid process, why shouldn't EVERYBODY get to play? (BTW, this is almost certainly a ***LEGAL*** circumvention of the bid process -- very few governmental entities have a rule against accepting ***FREE*** anything, as long as it is NOT an attempt to gain POLTICAL FAVOR). This is VERY, VERY slick on MS' part.

          3. VERY FEW Federal, State, Regional, Municipal entities have a F*****G CLUE when it comes to IT procurement. They are freq well behind industry in IT acquisition/deployment (not all that many corporations are great at it either).

          So, NOLA is gonna do whatever NOLA is gonna do. Courts might reverse it later, much later. Probably not (separation of powers and all that).

          I suggest you consider what my main man, StevieB, has probably already figured out...once a few 2nd/3rd tier munincipalities have adopted a 'City Wide' apps and services vendor (WHOEVER that is) it will MUCH, MUCH easier to sell the rest of them.

          Procurement specialists (need to be careful about discussing 'procurement' in NOLA -- my favorite American city) in government jobs are VERY, VERY conservative and follow a "herd rule". Once a few of these entities adopts a given solution, many/most of the others will follow.

          We can sit on the sidlines and cry "Foul" and ask for the "Ref" to intercede (and we've all seen how effective that strategy is, haven't we?), or we return the punch.

          Quod erat demonstrandum...

  • So Let Me Guess (Score:2, Insightful)

    by tealover ( 187148 )
    Everyone here is smarter than the politicians in New Orleans.

    Hmmmmm.

    That sounds about right.

    • Blockquoth the poster:

      Everyone here is smarter than the politicians in New Orleans.

      Hmmmmm.

      Maybe, maybe not. But the average slashdot reader is probably way more technically savvy (as well as Microsoft-aware) than the average politician.

  • Just as here (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Kz ( 4332 ) on Saturday August 17, 2002 @10:41AM (#4088865) Homepage
    Here in Peru, the response from M$ to the Open Source proposal was not only the easily rebutted FUD letter. There was also a 'donation' of computers and software to the schools. All free, of course... for 5 years. after that, we'll have to pay for the priviledge of being locked-in with the propietary formats.

    And the same line: "Since it's a donation, there was no public bidding", and it will make impossible to apply the OpenSource law (if it would be approved).

    How can we escape? having no money is no longer a defense from being robbed

  • Don't think you read the article (Score:4, Insightful)

    by nharmon ( 97591 ) on Saturday August 17, 2002 @10:42AM (#4088872)
    According to the Slashdot story... "New Orleans eventually has to buy the software..."

    Yet, the article says... Eventually, he added, the city will have to purchase software from the company...

    The article would suggest that future software will not be free. Not that the current software will, in the future, have to be purchased. A minor detail perhaps, but it does explain why the software is a gift.

    It would be like a gun maker giving pistols to a police department a substantial savings, but making them purchase their own magazines, springs, etc.

    I personally don't see a problem with what Microsoft is doing.

    • Re:Don't think you read the article (Score:5, Insightful)

      by ericman31 ( 596268 ) on Saturday August 17, 2002 @10:53AM (#4088932) Journal

      The problem with what MS is doing is that they are managing to avoid the procurement process that most government agencies are subject to. Remember the outcry in California when the state sole-sourced a Master License Agreement with Oracle? And then, after a few months of people saying that the state shouldn't have done that, it turned out that there were some shady political contributions from Oracle to the Governor's office.

      If you look at the history of government procurement, racketereering and corrruption laws you will see that they were almost all passed to prevent sole-source government procurement because it's bad for the citizens. This is pretty tricky on Microsoft's part. It certainly violates the spirit of the law, if not the actual letter.

      • But is it a gift? If you give something, you have passed ownership and your entire transaction income is $0. Everybody knows that Microsoft claims to never pass ownership to anybody. They license their software and they're obligating New Orleans to future purchases so they will get income from this. So it sounds like they are printing out a massive volume license agreement with up front discounting down to zero. If New Orleans *has to* purchase MS software under the contract, money will change hands at a future date and it's just an extended credit line we're talking about. After all, if you offer net 60 credit on a series of purchases, it's not considered a gift either.
    • It would be like a gun maker giving pistols to a police department a substantial savings, but making them purchase their own magazines, springs, etc. I personally don't see a problem with what Microsoft is doing.

      With most any other company, there wouldn't be. But given Microsoft's past behavior, what do you suppose their position will be on using any non-MS software whatsoever?

      It's like a gun maker giving pistols to the cops at a discount, then making them purchase their own magazines, springs, etc, but also decreeing what type of ammo they will use, what kind of range targets they'll use, what kind of cleaning oil, how the cops will use the guns, whether or not they are allowed to use any brand other than theirs, who they're allowed to shoot with them, etc, etc. They will take over the decisions usually left to people who actually own and use the stuff.

    • Blockquoth the poster:

      It would be like a gun maker giving pistols to a police department a substantial savings, but making them purchase their own magazines, springs, etc.

      Actually, with Microsoft's history, it'd be more like a gun maker:

      Offering the army free muskets and musket balls;

      later "upgrading" their ammo to rounds for a Springfield rifle and discontinuing musket balls, forcing the army to buy new rifles to fire them; and

      using the contract and the "Springfield upgrade path" to prevent the police department from taking the Gatling guns offered for free by the citizenry.

  • it's not a gift... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Kunta Kinte ( 323399 ) on Saturday August 17, 2002 @10:42AM (#4088877) Journal
    If there's a contract involved.

    Microsoft is stipulating that they buy in the future, according to the article. There's an obvious transfer of value between parties.

    If I were in the position to bid in one of those cities, believe me, I would sue.

  • "Gift" + "must eventually purchase"? (Score:3, Redundant)

    by 1010011010 ( 53039 ) on Saturday August 17, 2002 @10:43AM (#4088878) Homepage
    How can it be a "gift" if it must be purchased? Is Arthur Anderson involved in the deal somehow?
  • "Eventually, he added, the city will have to purchase software from the company, but he said it would be a "minuscule" expense."

    It doesn't say they will have to purchase THE software from Microsoft, only that they will have to eventually buy software from Microsoft. Granted, it isn't very specific, but get your shit straight.
    • Blockquoteth:
      It doesn't say they will have to purchase THE software from Microsoft, only that they will have to eventually buy software from Microsoft. Granted, it isn't very specific, but get your shit straight.


      Ok. You're right. They don't have to by THE software, but the fact that they are then locked in to future aquisitions of Microsoft software means ipso facto that Microsoft has indeed bypassed any "Open Bid" systems that may be in place. Not for the software that Microsoft are "giving" away, but for the software that the gift locks New Orleans into buying in the future.

      Plus, the only reason that are getting the "miniscule" charge on future software purchases is because they agreed to this deal in the first place, which may consistitute a bribe. Granted, given Louisianna's political past, Microsoft chose a great place to try this tactic out. ;^)

      I smell lawsuit.

  • Typo in linked article title (Score:5, Funny)

    by Alsee ( 515537 ) on Saturday August 17, 2002 @10:47AM (#4088900) Homepage
    New Orleans News
    City may get free Microsoft makeover

    Typo: the "m" is makeover should read "t".
    We appologize for the error.

    -
  • Fantastic! Now someone just needs to write free drop in replacements for the pieces MS is providing. MS can spend their resources on requirement analysis and setup, and when it is time to collect revenue, discover that they have been replaced. Maybe a large company with an interest in denying MS income would be willing to sponsor such a project.
  • Unfortunately government tends to have seriously shortsighted vision so the idea of "free now, pay later" is extremely appealing to them. It allows them to offer services for their voters right now, and they don't have to pay for it until the next (or later) budget comes around. Tomorrow's problems never come, and the first one's free. This amazing thinking helps explain the ever expanding national debt.

    From the article, refering to the new Offender Data Information System, "It gives them a lot more weapons in fighting crime," Meffert said. The reality? "We can not wield it! None of us can!"

  • Doesn't make sense (Score:5, Funny)

    by A_Non_Moose ( 413034 ) on Saturday August 17, 2002 @10:49AM (#4088914) Homepage Journal
    New Orleans is known for booze, sex and debauchery.

    You think they would have chosen BSD.
    . :)
  • The first shot is free, but that is just to get you hooked on it. Once you're hooked, prices go through the roof and they will take everything you have.
  • Is microsoft going to "give" them software And hardware, or just a bunch of software?
    "Upgrading Systems" isnt a very clear term.

    IF they are giving them a bunch of hardware And software, hey no problem, let them spend the $$, and they can just say to microsoft in X years, "Oh sorry, we actually broke bid laws since we Do end up paying you, so, we cant pay you. Oh, and those systems are critical to our police doing their job, you cant have them back. What, you would cripple an entire city's ability to fight crime?! ::calls new outlets::"

    If its just software, then , well, Is there even anything Like this being done in the *nix world ?

    from the article : "New Orleans police will be using a system Microsoft developed for the state of Oklahoma. Dubbed the Offender Data Information System, the system can link dozens of law enforcement agencies, jails and court systems. A virtual crime-fighting tool, the system also provides officers with online mug shots of suspects, warrants and other data. In Oklahoma, the system is expected to expand into accident reporting, video arraignment and automated pawn-shop-ticket tracking. "

  • My Concern (Score:2, Funny)

    by lewp ( 95638 )
    Isn't Microsoft cutting it a bit close? A penny more and they'd be overcharging.

  • Why New Orleans is doing this (Score:5, Interesting)

    by localroger ( 258128 ) on Saturday August 17, 2002 @10:57AM (#4088941) Homepage
    Much as I hate Microsoft, I have to admit this is a smart move on Nagin's part. What the linked article fails to point out is the nature of the system Microsoft is replacing -- an antediluvian mainframe system whose contractor has kept getting the nod because of entrenched patronage since, literally, the days when Elvis was alive. It doesn't mention the death threats (!) which members of the Nagin administration received when they started inquiring about the computer contract.

    Basically, Nagin got elected on a platform of cleaning up the corruption and he'd sign a contract with the Devil himself to get rid of the current scumbags. Wait, he actually did just do that. Well, I for one can't blame him under the circumstances.


    • Heh. The cycle of life in New Orleans turns again... out with the old scumbags, in with the new...
    • Isn't doing about what they're doing now how they got into trouble in the first place?
    • the entrenched contractor on the mainframe? those were all city employees. the contractor on the novell network, which has been highly effective for 4+ years, and has the best cost-benefit ratio in the city, [not my company, my isp, dsi at http://www.dsi-us.com] is out too, without review or prior notice.

      all the troubles in new orleans stem 100% from circumventing the public procurement process.
      if that stops, everything else will be able to work itself out.

      this is exactly how crooked people in new orleans operate.

      and the idea that a new effort in IT will be costless is suspect, it smells upwind.
  • New Orleans wants to be a sacrificial lamb.

    They can take Microsoft down a notch when they crash.

    How many people are going to mourn either of the co-victims? Not many, I'll wager.
  • There is no gift here...This is a bribe... If this were a gift, there would be no other obligation. In other words no future payments required.
  • Get the razor almost free and then buy razorblades at a high price.

    We will be seeing alot more like this in the future. I think Microsoft gladly loose money if they can keep linux off government and cities.

  • The gift that keeps on taking... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by gnovos ( 447128 ) <gnovos.chipped@net> on Saturday August 17, 2002 @11:18AM (#4089019) Homepage Journal
    One must wonder just what the Mayor would say to a free gift of Redhat with NO contract to buy in the future? Someone living in New Orleans may want to offer such a gift.
  • What Microsoft is marketing here is an application for law enforcement. (Oklahoma's site for the system is here [odisok.net]. Requires Internet Exploder and Windows Media Player, of course.) It's a web-based system with a back-end database, servelets, and browser-based components. What Microsoft calls "DNA", or tries to portray as part of ".NET". From the description, it's not a particularly elaborate application; it sounds like a medium-sized, but unimpressive, Visual Basic job.

    It's surprising that Microsoft is bothering with Government applications. The margins aren't that big. That field has usually been addressed by companies that did mostly Government work, like EDS, Unisys, and the government business unit of IBM. This may reflect a major strategy change for Microsoft, moving towards owning the customer in the classic IBM way, with lots of Microsoft people onsite at the customer location.

  • Some points:

    1. A sneaky deal? Sounds like it, but Microsoft does represent computers to the 99.99 percent of the population that doesn't read Slashdot.

    2. Sneaky deals and monopolism aside, the simple fact that Microsoft is a corportation allows them to speak with one voice and make a coherent proposal that has a real chance of being implemented.

    3. So...how could the free software/open sourcee world do the same thing? How could a similar wall-to-wall open source solution be offered to New Orleans? Does such an institution exist, or is the notion antithetical to the community?
    • Any service organization could do this. I'm working part-time with one who is getting into just this.

      All of the software is there, and you just hire a solutions company to put it all together for you. It certainly isn't rocket science.

  • A tried and tested strategy (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Aliks ( 530618 ) on Saturday August 17, 2002 @11:26AM (#4089051)
    Big computer companies have been using this tactic for decades.

    You want to enter a marketplace? First problem is you haven't got a reference site so noone will take you seriously.

    So you buy yourself a reference site and shower them with goodies to make sure the software, hardware and services all hang together. Now you can go to other related businesses with a credible offer.

    For this to work, the vendor has to have deep enough pockets to make the showcase site a success, and time enough to do the job properly. Secondly the marketplace has to be broad enough to replicate the showcase to a goodly number of real paying customers.

    Nothing wrong here, quite the reverse, it's good business to invest time and effort on satisfying customer demand.

    This sort of strategy is popular in the public sector, with regional governments and the like. They all have broadly similar requirements, and are strapped for cash, so that someone will likely be prepared to take the risk of being the trial site. I have also seen it work in smaller banks, the ones who can't really afford to develop new solutions in house.

    The upside for the vendor is that you get a pretty much captive market: the customer can't usually afford to pay for any alternative system. This means that you can sell them related services at a premium rate year after year.

    The downside is that the margins are hit initially, after all you had to buy the business. Further, if the target marketplace is not actually as homogeneous as you thought, then there can be expensive customisation required for new clients. They won't take the offering just as a package so the perceived risk and cost goes up, meaning that your expensive reference site is not quite so compelling.

    The downside for the customer comes when the vendor's pockets aren't so deep, and they are in a hurry for profit.

    There are quite a few spins on this strategy, the worst of which is "break the customer's leg and then sell them a splint". In other words, you get 6 months into the project before revealing that there are significant "special" problems that can be blamed on the customer. These "problems" are outside the scope of the original agreement and the customer has to write some cheques to cover it. 6 months later, new unexpected problems crop up . . . .

    Well MS has the deep pockets for this kind of work, but they are in a hurry. Tough call to decide whether it's good business or not.
  • I truly don't have a problem with Microsoft should supply New Orleans with software. On the other hand I don't like the way it's done this time, at all.

    Microsoft is here trapping New Orleans in a slick way and the mayor of New Orleans is obviously terribly short sighted and porly informed. The problem in any government, county, municipial etc. is that technical decitions are made by politicians or poorly educated/bribed advisors and not by well educated consultans with a broad software experience.

  • Hypocritical? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by no_nicks_available ( 463299 ) on Saturday August 17, 2002 @11:39AM (#4089113)
    If this was Redhat doing this it would be praised.

    • Re:Hypocritical? (Score:3, Insightful)

      by de_rus ( 458498 )
      A little, yes.

      But i guess nobody fears a RedHat lock-in.
      If after some time NO decides they want to move on, they could choose from several other vendors and keep using the same open source applications, with all their data intact, and in open formats.

    • Re:Hypocritical? (Score:2, Informative)

      by bharlan ( 49602 )
      Redhat has not been convicted of violating
      the Sherman Antitrust Act.
  • ...to pick the leat corrupt city in the whole of the US as their starting point.
  • "Microsoft Sinks Teeth Into New Orleans"

    with a counter headline being something like

    "Linux wins over hearts and souls of Germany"

    Its just business, leave the emotions at the door if you want to perform your best. Microsoft did in 1981 and if linux wants a bigger market they will too.

  • Consider the rhetoric here:

    "a city of the future" (hype)
    "miniscule expense" (no evidence)
    "$100 million savings" (no evidence)
    "more weapons for fighting crime" (hype)

    This is a political sales pitch, pure and simple, and even worse, it involves an end-run around a process that was designed to protect the public's interest.

    While I agree that cities may have a problem with their current technology, solving it by digging a huge pit, and then slowly burying yourself as a company like M$ begins to extort larger and larger sums of money (in the form of licensing/support agreements, of course), isn't the way to go.
  • Open bidding's taken care of too: "Because these services are considered a gift, the city won't have to publicly bid the project." Sounds like dirty pool to me.


    If its legally considered a gift, that means there can be no consideration of future payment involved. They should just take the gift and then later bid it out anyway.
  • What?! In New Orleans?! That virtuous paragon of civic do-rightitude?

    No way!

    Looks like Microsoft has found its perfect partner in crime.

  • Microsoft gives N'Orleans the first one and they have to pay later? Like drug pushers? (First one's free).

    New Orleans has a larger looming problem if they head down this path: the cost of hardware upgrades.

    The problem with tying oneself to M$ is that you need more powerful hardware everytime they release a new version of bloatware.

    If New Orleans can't buy software, how the hell are they going to keep upgrading their hardware with every release?
  • This reminds me of another "bidness"man's practices:

    Here you go kid - first one's free.

    Days later:

    You got it bad kid - tell you what, I'll let you have a little something to tide you over till you can get enough money to get what you REALLY need...



  • New Orleans citizen: "Blue flashing traffic light? Hmmm. I have never seen that before, 'cept at Kmart".

  • I don't understand.. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Kwil ( 53679 ) on Saturday August 17, 2002 @05:11PM (#4090270)
    ..the aversion to a public bidding process.

    If the mayor had some amount of intelligence, he could say, "Look, we gotta have a proper bidding process here, but feel free to offer your stuff on the same terms for the bid."

    This way, he'd avoid bribery allegations and it would also open things up for an even better offer to come through. Also, if Microsoft won (which I would actually expect, especially if they're offering migration support as well as software) they could then point to the city and say "See? Our software got chosen over supposedly 'free' software. Our software is therefore better, and that's why we charge."

    Easy opportunity for a double win for MS (they get their test city and get it in an open bid) and a double win for the mayor. (He's squeaky clean, plus gets his free software)

    Is there some flaw in the logic that MS and the mayor are seeing here that I've missed, or are they just going blind?
  • This isn't a gift, it's a loss leader. How can they circumvent competitive tender regulations by pretending the first part of a huge lucrative deal is a gift. It's crazy. Microsoft isn't giving them the hardware because they think they will lose money on this deal. Just how dumb are these civic leaders?
  • offering free samples of crack.

    Of course, people are quite correct to point out that this kind of tactic is common in business. It's still stupid for governments to fall for it. Public tendering is the way to go for any big government purchase - heck, for any big purchase.



  • If I remember right, fletch 2 [imdb.com] took place in thibideux louisiana. I'm not shocked that life is going to imitate art!

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