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Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spending in the US

nytimes.com

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Re: Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spending in the US

#191

Post by TheRealDunkirk »

pluma wrote: post #163
gonvaled wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

M$ will never, ever, be forgiven for the FUD that put OS in dire straits.

You don't need to forgive someone to accept that they have changed and that there are bigger problems. If you hated MS in the '90s/'00s for what they did back then, you should have that same hatred right now, but not especially for MS but also for Apple and (to a lesser extent) Google.

Microsoft earned the ire directed at them for leveraging their power in the industry to make it hard for open source to thrive. If we're going to "go there," I'd argue that Oracle should be the recipient of any residual anger towards "old" Microsoft. They're the ones doing the most damage to open source for the past many years now.

Re: Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spending in the US

#192

Post by emddudley »

mulletbum wrote: post #185
ekianjo wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

they could put a black box for such expenses and still give the detail for everything else.

Wouldn't people be able to deduce the spend on this black box section?

Yes, and we already do. The security concern is more about individual items within the defense budgets.

Re: Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spending in the US

#193

Post by gonvaled »

pluma wrote: post #187
gonvaled wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple is the nail in the coffin. The coffin was ordered by M$. But the battle, and the war, was lost long before Apple became the behemonth it is now. Apple did nothing to kill OS, it arrived when it was dead. As for Google, they actually played a positive role back then. Whatever they do now, does not matter anymore. The window of oportunity closed long ago, and it was M$ who did it.

> they actually played a positive role back then Stop living in the past. Do you just want to wallow in self-pity about what could have been or are you actually upset about real problems that are fixable? Apple is halting progress of web standards right now . Apple is locking in users into its closed ecosystem (good luck trying to develop for iOS without macOS). Google and Facebook are "embracing, extending, extingui…

I do not directly (the world is a complicated place) support, financially or otherwise, Apple or M$. I boycott them both whenever I get the chance.

I am relatively cool about Google.

I do not live in the past, but I still like to point out what happened, whenever I get the chance. They are solely to blame (with a minor role by Sun / SCO) of the mess we are in. As I already mentioned, Apple is simply evil, but is not to blame for the destruction of OS.

For me to change my mind about M$, BIG things should happen. I think the minor grievance of referring to them by M$ can be endured, even by sensitive bystanders.

Re: Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spending in the US

#194

Post by Delmania »

ido wrote: post #115
SamReidHughes wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing that gets wrong is calling Gates the genius. Ballmer is the smarter of the two.

Then why did Microsoft stagnate under his leadership, once Gates left?

That's a common misconception about Ballmer. The stock stagnated and they did miss mobile. However, if you look at their financials, under Ballmer revenue doubled and net income increased. Ballmer may not be the best person to identify and capitalize on new trends, but if you want someone who can make money, he's your man.

Re: Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spending in the US

#195

Post by chickenfries »

scosman wrote: post #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...

What an incredible quote. I wonder if his obnoxious opinions on philanthropy came up while they were dating. Certainly sounds like an awkward conversation to me.

Re: Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spending in the US

#196

Post by consz »

gonvaled wrote: post #193
pluma wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they actually played a positive role back then Stop living in the past. Do you just want to wallow in self-pity about what could have been or are you actually upset about real problems that are fixable? Apple is halting progress of web standards right now . Apple is locking in users into its closed ecosystem (good luck trying to develop for iOS without macOS). Google and Facebook are "embracing, extending, extingui…

I do not directly (the world is a complicated place) support, financially or otherwise, Apple or M$. I boycott them both whenever I get the chance. I am relatively cool about Google. I do not live in the past, but I still like to point out what happened, whenever I get the chance. They are solely to blame (with a minor role by Sun / SCO) of the mess we are in. As I already mentioned, Apple is simply evil, but is not…

I think the relevant issue with using a phrase like "M$" is it trivializes your argument. It makes your argument look childish, regardless of the actual content.

Re: Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spending in the US

#197

Post by oneZergArmy »

JamieF1 wrote: post #112
roymurdock wrote: post #48

I have found this website very helpful in the past few years when researching government financial info: http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/total_spending_chart I reached out to the website developer/maintainer/creator, Chris Chantrill, telling him I appreciated his work on the site and asking if he needed help (seems like a 1 man operation?) - here's how he responded: Thanks! I started the site in 2007 when "I coul…

Can't believe I'm posting something positive about the Irish government but they recently launched this site which is actually pretty decent. Pity other governments don't do the same. http://whereyourmoneygoes.gov.ie

Norway has it as well (in Norwegian). http://slikbrukesskattepengene.no/

Re: Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spending in the US

#198

Post by Pigo »

roymurdock wrote: post #48

I have found this website very helpful in the past few years when researching government financial info: http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/total_spending_chart I reached out to the website developer/maintainer/creator, Chris Chantrill, telling him I appreciated his work on the site and asking if he needed help (seems like a 1 man operation?) - here's how he responded: Thanks! I started the site in 2007 when "I coul…

I suppose I'll throw a shout out to www.opensecrets.org, who have an API I've used on a project in the past. You can see the top contributors to congressional campaigns and presidential. You can see down the $5 your grandmother gave to your senator's campaign, as it's all a matter of public record. It's interesting to see how businesses in your area will vote with their wallet.

Re: Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spending in the US

#199

Post by Zigurd »

The problem with "radical transparency"is that the worst money-wasters get to hide behind confidentiality in the name of security:

1. Counter-terrorism spending, which wastes money protecting backwaters no terrorist has even heard of

2. The Drug War and it's army of informants

3. Seizures of property and cash, dimensions currently unknown

4. A Cold War-sized military in a post-Cold War world

5. The prison-industrial complex

Those are all discretionary spending. And those are all conservatives' favorites. And they all get wrapped in "we can't be transparent, because drug lords and terrorists!"

Re: Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spending in the US

#200

Post by pc86 »

Shivetya wrote: post #157
roymurdock wrote: post #48

I have found this website very helpful in the past few years when researching government financial info: http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/total_spending_chart I reached out to the website developer/maintainer/creator, Chris Chantrill, telling him I appreciated his work on the site and asking if he needed help (seems like a 1 man operation?) - here's how he responded: Thanks! I started the site in 2007 when "I coul…

I posted a link to the story about how Office of Management and Budget under Trump is trying to clean up government but it didn't gain any traction. The link summarizes a link to the PDF from the OMB about how they are challenging every level of government. Considering how much tax money the government takes in it is astounding to me they run such a deficit. Plus you must also account for all the taxes and spending a…

> Considering how much tax money the government takes in it is astounding to me they run such a deficit.

It's astounding to you that a superpower spends a lot of money? When we spend more on our military than the next n countries combined?

> if they flunk a cost benefit test

I consider myself a conservative, especially in comparison to most folks on HN, but this is nonsense. Conservatives in Florida demanded drug testing welfare recipients, even when data shows that fails a cost benefit test pretty handily.

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