Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spending in the US
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Re: Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spending in the US
#2I am very eager to see what's in store here when it goes live. If indeed it contains accurate, unbiased and factual data then it is a great project. And it is about time someone did it. I wish it was citizen funded instead of rich individuals (even if the intentions are good). But I will take what I can get for now.
Re: Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spending in the US
#3I am very eager to see what's in store here when it goes live. If indeed it contains accurate, unbiased and factual data then it is a great project. And it is about time someone did it. I wish it was citizen funded instead of rich individuals (even if the intentions are good). But I will take what I can get for now.
I'll get excited when it comes out. What is in it for ballmer?
Re: Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spending in the US
#4I really never liked Ballmer, but I did love him for the Developers dance, and now, well, this is awesome. I hope he does it in a long-term sustainable way.
Re: Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spending in the US
#5I am very eager to see what's in store here when it goes live. If indeed it contains accurate, unbiased and factual data then it is a great project. And it is about time someone did it. I wish it was citizen funded instead of rich individuals (even if the intentions are good). But I will take what I can get for now.
I'll get excited when it comes out. What is in it for ballmer?
It makes his wife happy? That is what is discussed in the article. Frankly, it's a reasonable motivation.
Re: Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spending in the US
#6I think this is an interesting point:
>One rule Mr. Ballmer said his team made early on was to use only government data — no outside providers — to avoid accusations of bias. But this created its own challenges.
Its going to be interesting to see the site. I wonder if it will be free?
Re: Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spending in the US
#7It's quite possible for someone to be a mediocre CEO and still do good, smart things. This is a good thing, and smart.
Re: Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spending in the US
#8The article mentions that the data shows a huge allocation of resources to education. Why is education publicly funded in the USA, and not left to market forces? Can't that be considered a "socialist" policy?
Re: Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spending in the US
#9"“But come on, doesn’t the government take care of the poor, the sick, the old?” Mr. Ballmer recalled telling her."
Too bad he never had a mentor who was an expert in philanthropy...
Re: Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spending in the US
#10It sounds pretty great, but I'm very worried about what actually comes out of it given the media landscape. People will use the data in ways that benefit them - even the CBO's reports are highly politicized.
If we can't start taking "real, true" data at face value and using it to drive actual policy again, this is just another drop in the bucket.