31–40 of 85 posts
Had no idea this was even underway.
http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2013/congrat...
http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2013/1122094...
Second link nicely explains the differences between NASA MAVEN and ISRO MOM trajectories.
That's so awesome! They need a better web designer for their site though. That brown background is just horrible.
Delhi Govt.: http://delhi.gov.in/
BSNL (a leading public sector telco): http://www.bsnl.co.in/
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre: http://barcrecruit.gov.in/
Nehru Science Centre: http://www.nehrusciencecentre.gov.in/
Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research: http://www.igcar.ernet.in/
This being said, I feel pretty good about the fact that ISRO and others' ramshackle websites don't seem to be too indicative of their technical prowess, though they are undoubtedly embarrassing.
[Possibly jingoistic downvoters -- do you actually think these websites are decent, or even half-decent? Be honest.]
That's so awesome! They need a better web designer for their site though. That brown background is just horrible.
That said, I am amazed they now maintain a neat Facebook Page and live stream launches
Before someone makes the inevitable "Why are they spending money on this instead of fixing poverty?" argument: The whole Mars mission costs about as much as making four Bollywood movies. http://www.firstpost.com/india/ten-price-tags-to-put-isro-ma...
Worth mentioning: if you would have lived in India, hearing the same story about USA NASA Mars rover landing, you would have said: "Why are they spending time on this instead of fixing 14 trillion dollar debt?" Just a matter of point of view.
Before someone makes the inevitable "Why are they spending money on this instead of fixing poverty?" argument: The whole Mars mission costs about as much as making four Bollywood movies. http://www.firstpost.com/india/ten-price-tags-to-put-isro-ma...
Worth mentioning: if you would have lived in India, hearing the same story about USA NASA Mars rover landing, you would have said: "Why are they spending time on this instead of fixing 14 trillion dollar debt?" Just a matter of point of view.
unrelated comment triggered by looking at the link, why are Indian websites at large so crappy and appear to be from 1990s? Just like with the insane lawless vehicle traffic, people have become used to crappy websites in India.
2. The programmers in these institutes are often sidelined, and their work is seen as inessential. So, many of them lack motivation to update their skills. Regular "refresher courses" to update skill-sets are hardly ever funded.
3. There are a lot of restrictions to government companies outsourcing work to private companies - in general it is very difficult for government companies' funds to flow to private companies - for example, all govt. employees have to fly Air India, even when other airline tickets are cheaper. In things like website development, this means that it is hard (not impossible) to subcontract the work to a non-government agency. Also, the private subcontractors who do get the projects leave after 3 years or so, since there is no maintenance contract built-in. The maintenance contractors who come in later have no idea what the existing code base is.
Overall, I think this is a system designed to minimize corruption. Please see a related analysis on the healthcare.gov debacle - "Furthermore, many of the procurement policies that make access to services like AWS difficult have been put in place to prevent corrupt or unjust spending of taxpayers’ money. Unfortunately many of these policies have become so complicated that the issues get obfuscated, they repel innovative and cost effective solutions, and ultimately fail to achieve their original intent. " [1]
The policy does a bad job at preventing corruption, anyway. But especially in the case of a fast-changing technology like web development, it is a ridiculous hurdle. (No, I am not a programmer, just an exasperated government employee in India, who is aghast that so much of talent in the country is not allowed to be used just because of ill-made legislation. I am not a fan of vigilante activism either - they have no idea of the kind of policy fetters that people have to deal with in government.)
[1] http://www.civicagency.org/2013/10/learning-from-the-healthc...
That's so awesome! They need a better web designer for their site though. That brown background is just horrible.
I'm Indian, and would like to start a gallery of "ghastly Indian government websites". If you want to gaze in horrified fascination at the train wreck of execrable blink tags, long scrolling marquees, and millions of unintelligible categories, go look at: Delhi Govt.: http://delhi.gov.in/ BSNL (a leading public sector telco): http://www.bsnl.co.in/ Bhabha Atomic Research Centre: http://barcrecruit.gov.in/ Nehru Scien…
Had no idea this was even underway.
Me neither. I vaguely defend myself by noting that HN seems to be fairly US-centric, and since I live in the US, I tend to hear more about things like SpaceX launches (watched the two aborted ones this week) than I do about the Indian, Chinese or Japanese space programs.
Before someone makes the inevitable "Why are they spending money on this instead of fixing poverty?" argument: The whole Mars mission costs about as much as making four Bollywood movies. http://www.firstpost.com/india/ten-price-tags-to-put-isro-ma...