It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock
The meat it feeds on; that cuckold lives in bliss
The Government's $200,000 Useless Android Application
111–120 of 165 posts
Re: The Government's $200,000 Useless Android Application
#112Earlier quoted context omitted.
It seems this guy doesn't account for "bureaucratic overhead" that is involved in dealing with any large client: You already mentioned the need for lots and lots of meetings and doing the translations, there is also writing up a proposal and some reports, drawing up contracts and sub-contracts, doing usability testing and ensuring compliance with applicable federal regulations. And there is probably a lot of other st…
Looks to me like there's room for someone to come in and make a buck off "AIs" that can handle the regulations, reports and meetings efficiently.
Do you really want to be managed by an AI?
Re: The Government's $200,000 Useless Android Application
#113We hope the traditional procurement story will be improved with the help of Civic Commons, an organization which is very much aimed at leveling the playing field for government software. We want to make it easier for more developers and smart spry development shops to work on software projects for government. We want to give open source the same exposure as proprietary software and generally facilitate software co-creation and reuse across government to make sure things don't get paid for more times than they need to. You can learn more about us at http://civiccommons.org
The Civic Commons marketplace is currently still in closed beta, but it will be opening up very soon. Please sign-up: http://marketplace.civiccommon...
Re: The Government's $200,000 Useless Android Application
#114Re: The Government's $200,000 Useless Android Application
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
> and Hacker News jumps on that like starving dogs on Alpo. I couldn't help but note that the title contains Useless Android Application , although the article indicates that the total cost of $200,000 was spent on Android, iPhone and BB (not completed) versions. I won't go as far as calling it linkbait, but if I ever wrote an article about an app I didn't like and it was available on Android, I now know a way to get…
Yeah, that was a pretty cheap shot. The whole thing comes off as a manufactured controversy; It's worth something to OSHA just to know whether they are reaching the general public via this method or whether they're better off sticking with the existing approach of requiring employers to display posters. I'm having a hard time feeling outraged over the extra 0.06 cents this is going to cost me and every other American…
>It's all 'fail early, fail often' here on HN until the government does so, then failure and experimentation are considered intolerable inefficiencies.
I don't _want_ my government to fail early and fail often. I don't _want_ them to experiment. I want stability, I want them to be on this side of the bleeding edge, I want them to be a generation behind.
When a startup takes this approach, the risk v reward is shared between the few people who sat down and decided that risk is worth taking. When the government does it, that risk is shared amongst the entire country, many of whom never wanted and could never benefit from the reward. Are government smartphone apps a useful idea? Why sure they are. I'd be willing to put my tax money towards the development of technologies that can improve my life. But I'd like them to be worth the money. Not sometimes, but _every_ time, or at least damn close to every time.
What I'd really rather see is the government investing in an open API for their tools and information and letting the private developers wrap around them, presenting the information in a way that is useful to a wider variety of people. The developers stand to make money from the $0.99 sale of the app, and the government gets to have the information available to the people who need to see it.
Re: The Government's $200,000 Useless Android Application
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
Looks to me like there's room for someone to come in and make a buck off "AIs" that can handle the regulations, reports and meetings efficiently.
Do you really want to be managed by an AI?
Artificial intelligence would be better than no intelligence. At least you know it'd be following a logical set of rules.
Re: The Government's $200,000 Useless Android Application
#117Fine. "6 hours maximum", says the author, for an app translated into English and Spanish that interfaces with a remote database and performs some user-initiated calculations, and also has a bunch of static pages. Before starting you must consult with at least a dozen people who know very little about Android and succinctly describe the capabilities of the smartphone and what sorts of applications are even possible. F…
Heh, I feel bad for any products you spearhead.
Your definition of good quality is poor.
I am a professional Android developer. Something like this wouldn't take more than a day. It's a piece of cake.
What I suspect happened here is that the project was outsourced. These silly people tried to save money by hiring a foreigner to talk to another foreigner developer and get the app developed. To work on and a deliver a product these foreigners know nothing about.
A little while ago I had a little financial situation and was forced to take some cheap freelance projects. I was quickly picked up by a foreign recruiter and I took a couple of jobs really cheap. At the rate the Indian developers would charge.
I had to work on an app that was commissioned by CAT. The app was a paving calculator that was to be used by their employees.
This was seriously some of the worse source code I have ever seen.
I took my own personal time to rewrite the project. I also redid all the calculations and found various mistakes everywhere. I asked them to send me all the docs and had to redo everything from the ground up because these people were plain incompetent.
For about a couple weeks work I charged $300 dollars. I didn't care about the money, I just didn't want any of our road workers using a shitty and potentially dangerous application.
Correct results are absolutely critical in any non-trivial application. Acceptance of incorrect results just shows how low the quality grade is.
FYI, I'm looking at the source, and it's pretty basic. Nothing a high school student couldn't write.
It looks like the company that made this was: http://pixelbitcreative.com/ also: http://erg.com/
Lol, they don't even have a real site yet they specialize in Web Development. What a joke.
Re: The Government's $200,000 Useless Android Application
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sure it would. If OSHA wants a new operating system, putting out an open call for a deliverable would be retarded. Absolutely nobody would be able to deliver such a thing on spec, and those that would be willing would be obvious scam artists. At best , it would cost someone a few weeks of time evaluating these bullshit submissions and realizing that they're a waste of time. At worst , they would be accepted, another…
We were talking about some temperature app, not a new operating system. I did not suggest such a competition would be a good idea for every kind of project. It's true that there would be overhead for running the competition and judging the entries, too.
> We were talking about some temperature app, not a new operating system. I did not suggest such a competition would be a good idea for every kind of project.
Right, I was trying to raise the point that it's not always obvious where the line between "trivial app" and "major project" should be drawn.
Re: The Government's $200,000 Useless Android Application
#119Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, that was a pretty cheap shot. The whole thing comes off as a manufactured controversy; It's worth something to OSHA just to know whether they are reaching the general public via this method or whether they're better off sticking with the existing approach of requiring employers to display posters. I'm having a hard time feeling outraged over the extra 0.06 cents this is going to cost me and every other American…
>It's all 'fail early, fail often' here on HN until the government does so, then failure and experimentation are considered intolerable inefficiencies. I don't _want_ my government to fail early and fail often. I don't _want_ them to experiment. I want stability, I want them to be on this side of the bleeding edge, I want them to be a generation behind. When a startup takes this approach, the risk v reward is shared…
Vehemently disagree. What you're proposing will put all government data behind paywalls - even if some of them will be relatively short ones.
Right now my transit authority runs a halfway-decent website along with a freely accessible API. The website is functional, but not perfect. There is a thriving market for people who can present the same data in much more usable ways, for profit. This seems ideal.
What you're suggesting is that the government never engage itself in building frontends - and stick strictly to building data backends instead, and leaving all the gooey UI to private industry. In other words, people will no longer have free access to census data, bus schedules, budgets, or anything. Well, unless you're a geek who knows how to figure out the documentation to the API, craft some API calls, and parse the results into some human-readable form.
I can't think of a worse techno-dictatorial dystopia. The only people who gain freedom are the geeks, everyone else loses free access to their own government's data unless they cough up the cash.
Re: The Government's $200,000 Useless Android Application
#120Amidst all of the government-bashing comments, I note that no one has remarked on a few things:
* we don't have any actual evidence to support the author's claim that this sort of bloat is routine (remember, plural of anecdote isn't data)
* we don't know what kind of wasted money gets tossed around in major corporations (assumptions about how corporations must be lean do not constitute actual evidence)
* we don't even have a way to find out what sort of bloat and waste takes place in corporate america - the government at least lets us find out