I'm paywalled is this about Granicus or Civic Plus?
Tyler Tech's "Odyssey" product, apparently
How Local Governments Got Hooked on One Company's Janky Software
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Re: How Local Governments Got Hooked on One Company's Janky Software
#12The problem is that these companies aren't hooked on extensible open source software as they should be, on something that gets reused across towns. The problem space then ought to be limited to developing or configuring town-specific extensions to the open source software, plus the associated devops. As with anything else, the goal ought to be to morph the development problem into a configuration problem.
Switzerland recently made open source mandatory for the public sector. Whether it is mandatory or not in any geography, its use ought to be something to strive for, not only to maximize reuse, but also to achieve a higher quality result in the process.
Re: How Local Governments Got Hooked on One Company's Janky Software
#13Same in the UK
Re: How Local Governments Got Hooked on One Company's Janky Software
#14Thought this was about Microsoft..
Re: How Local Governments Got Hooked on One Company's Janky Software
#15The problem is that these companies aren't hooked on extensible open source software as they should be, on something that gets reused across towns. The problem space then ought to be limited to developing or configuring town-specific extensions to the open source software, plus the associated devops. As with anything else, the goal ought to be to morph the development problem into a configuration problem. Switzerland…
The problem almost always comes down to how governments do procurement. In the name of fairness and preventing a variety of immoral acts it is extremely difficult for a government to point at an existing product and say "we'll take that". Instead they must create a list of requirements, debate said list of requirements, pass the list around various departments completely separated from the original procurement, and finally of you're lucky it'll be sent out for suppliers to bid on. Obviously any attempt, perceived or real, to write the requirements against an existing product will result in lawsuits.[1]
The result is that the product almost always ends up being some bespoke pile of scraps built to a years old list of requirements that only vaguely aligns to the original problem.
It's a market that requires extreme patience and a building full of lawyers, it's not something that many companies are interested in participating in directly and pretty much impossible for a open-source organization, not that they'd even want to.
[1] I've watched a company dream-up a non-existent solution just so they could sue the government for an "unfair" competition and be compensated. I almost wish the courts had forced the government go with the imaginary product just to watch the company collapse trying to deliver something they had no intention of and would not be able to actually provide.
Re: How Local Governments Got Hooked on One Company's Janky Software
#16The problem is that these companies aren't hooked on extensible open source software as they should be, on something that gets reused across towns. The problem space then ought to be limited to developing or configuring town-specific extensions to the open source software, plus the associated devops. As with anything else, the goal ought to be to morph the development problem into a configuration problem. Switzerland…
Open source also removes dependence on these software monopolies (with high barriers to entry for competition, due to the complexity and diversity of local regulations). Tyler Inc has no incentive to create non-garbage software.
Re: How Local Governments Got Hooked on One Company's Janky Software
#17The problem is that these companies aren't hooked on extensible open source software as they should be, on something that gets reused across towns. The problem space then ought to be limited to developing or configuring town-specific extensions to the open source software, plus the associated devops. As with anything else, the goal ought to be to morph the development problem into a configuration problem. Switzerland…
The problem almost always comes down to how governments do procurement. In the name of fairness and preventing a variety of immoral acts it is extremely difficult for a government to point at an existing product and say "we'll take that". Instead they must create a list of requirements, debate said list of requirements, pass the list around various departments completely separated from the original procurement, and f…
> Obviously any attempt, perceived or real, to write the requirements against an existing product will result in lawsuits.
The obvious solution here is for the town to give the open source software an initial try on their own, then include it in the requirements as a preexisting use. In any case, the bid and contract then is not for a new product but for integration instead.
Re: How Local Governments Got Hooked on One Company's Janky Software
#18Somehow this is not about Microsoft.
Re: How Local Governments Got Hooked on One Company's Janky Software
#19Easy. Local governments have no resources. Companies like Tyler let them just add modules to whatever they are doing today.
My city uses a similar platform. The explosion of pickleball required a scheduling system. They were able to implement that system in a few days, although it sucks, it works.
Re: How Local Governments Got Hooked on One Company's Janky Software
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
The problem almost always comes down to how governments do procurement. In the name of fairness and preventing a variety of immoral acts it is extremely difficult for a government to point at an existing product and say "we'll take that". Instead they must create a list of requirements, debate said list of requirements, pass the list around various departments completely separated from the original procurement, and f…
> Obviously any attempt, perceived or real, to write the requirements against an existing product will result in lawsuits. The obvious solution here is for the town to give the open source software an initial try on their own, then include it in the requirements as a preexisting use. In any case, the bid and contract then is not for a new product but for integration instead.
A jurisdiction can't just do something, that's the whole problem. The moment a dollar needs to be spent, a resource committed, whatever. It becomes a procurement problem.
Further to that there's nothing stopping a supplier from either claiming integration with another product is unfair and prejudices the competition or simply importing the data into their proprietary system and leaving the FOSS solution as some vestigial object hanging on the side.
I'm not joking when I say the system is absolutely beyond fucked with no obvious solutions. Most of it is so mundane and boring you won't ever here about it but ask any public service employee about their experiences in trying to get absolutely anything, from pens to planes to platforms the stories are all the same and many have tragic comedies of when the whole thing went wrong.