Our Tax Dollars at Work: FBI’s $170M failed Computer System

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Erich Lichtblau:

The development is a major setback for the F.B.I. in a decade-long struggle to escape a paper-driven culture and replace antiquated computer systems that have hobbled counterterrorism and criminal investigations. Robert S. Mueller III, the bureau’s director, along with members of the Sept. 11 commission and other national security experts, have said the success of that effort is critical to domestic security.
“It’s immensely disappointing to learn of this type of failure,” Lee H. Hamilton, the vice chairman of the Sept. 11 commission, said in an interview. “The F.B.I. cannot share information and manage their cases effectively without a top-flight computer system, and we on the commission got assurances again and again from the F.B.I. that they were getting on top of this problem. It’s very, very disappointing to see that they’re not.”

Investors supporting spyware

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Ben Edelman’s page is a great example of the internet’s enormous “power to the people” potential. Edelman lists the firms producing spyware along with their investors. Check it out. Wikipedia:

Strictly defined, spyware consists of computer software that gathers and reports information about a computer user without the user’s knowledge or consent. More broadly, the term spyware can refer to a wide range of related malware products which fall outside the strict definition of spyware. These products perform many different functions, including the delivery of unrequested advertising (pop-up ads in particular), harvesting private information, re-routing page requests to illegally claim commercial site referral fees, and installing stealth phone dialers.

Clusty fat link: spyware.

The Masculine Aspects of Tire Chains (or not)

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Living in San Francisco years ago, I remember the hassles of California’s chain laws (State law requires that all vehicles carry chains during the winter, and that a three-tier level of chain use be followed, depending on the amount of snow). Charlie LeDuff talks to a few “chain monkeys” – people licensed by Caltrans to install chains on Sierra Nevada roads ($30/car).

He said there were philosophical points to his second career. “Women love you, they just love you,” he said. “You’re like their hero, and that gives you a good feeling.”
He finds modern men, on the other hand, a disappointing lot. They have become so sedate, so inept and removed from the ability to fend for themselves, Mr. Miesel said, that they must pay another man to put chains on their tires.

Lessons on Innovation from Microsoft

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Carleen Hawn makes some interesting points on why Microsoft’s record of innovation is so “lackluster”:

Not to mince words, Bill Gates’s researchers have placed a bunch of expensive bets on technologies that haven’t panned out. But the company’s failure also points to three much bigger lessons about innovation.
Defense is easier. And for now, it’s more profitable. Harvard Business School’s Clayton Christensen coined the expression the “innovator’s dilemma” to describe what happens when entrenched companies confront new technologies. Good managers instinctively direct people and investment toward “sustaining innovations” that protect established businesses — and away from new ideas that threaten current profitability. That’s why Microsoft spends a lot on Office and Windows.

We have some local examples of protecting established businesses: Newspapers. Despite general circulation declines, both Madison Newspapers (Capital) and the Journal Company continue to invest in niche print publications that keep the printing presses going.