Challenge to Transfer IT Power in MA 243
Andy Updegrove writes "Linda Hamel, the General Counsel of the Massachusetts department that is struggling to establish ODF for state use, has prepared a challenge to those in the State Senate that would strip State CIO Peter Quinn of his power to set IT policy. Her analysis graphically describes why a task force of political appointees has no business telling more than 2000 IT professionals what to do."
Obviously! (Score:2, Funny)
I'm glad that somebody has a clue. Micromanagement is obviously the job of your Pointy Haired Boss.
Re:Obviously! (Score:3, Interesting)
Maybe it's just my computer nerdism showing, but if you're going to say "graphically" shouldn't there be... I dunno. A graph?
Was anyone else let down that there were no graphs? Not even a single picture.
Instead, we have a summary of "17 single-spaced pages of closely reasoned argument and information that Linda has crafted." Worse, her document is going to be "part of the Legislative Information Package relating to the proposed amendment."
Not to be cynical, but very few Mas
Re:Obviously! (Score:2)
Re:Where are the graphs? (Score:3, Informative)
2 usually graphic a : marked by clear lifelike or vividly realistic description b : vividly or plainly shown or described
Funny thing about language... some words obtain non-literal meanings (also known as metaphors) over time. Go figure...
MS pulling out the big guns (Score:3)
I blinked... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:I blinked... (Score:2)
I laughed (Score:5, Insightful)
People joke that Louisiana is the northernmost bananna republic. I hope not to have to welcome Mass to the club, but turnabout is fair play.
The more I think about it, the more Microsoft looks like the United Fruit Company. The only differences are that the United Fruit Company actually built real infrastructure, like railroads, and you can only grow a bananna in the tropics. It looks like you can farm PCs and treat their users like peons at any latitude.
Let's see if a great US state with some of the best IT staff and best universities for IT in the world can resist bribery and persue excellence. If they can't, no one can. That's what this is all about. The world is watching and M$ is desperate to "demonstrate" that IT experts want M$ junk.
What's funny is that their demonstration proves only that M$ is used only because it's forced on people by idiots.
Re:I blinked... (Score:3, Insightful)
Government should NEVER dicate what file formats people are allowed to use.
Which is exactly why ODF should be the standard. Then people can turn it into any format they like, and they aren't forced to buy MS software just to interact with their government.
As a MA resident.... (Score:5, Insightful)
I asked the office of the secretary of state if there was an alternative format since I could not edit the document for electronic submittal. I was told (actual quote) "Our only suggestion would be to locate a typewriter; most likely at your local public library."
Re:As a MA resident.... (Score:2)
I ran into this a while back while assisting a preacher with the same problems when two churches were merging. The merger fell through but before it happened, I ended up retyping almost an entire 40 pages of amended articles by hand. (i don't type
Re:As a MA resident.... (Score:5, Informative)
You have several options...
On Windows you can use the free Foxit PDF reader, which allows you to write text overlayed on PDFs, and allows you to print the results. I would suggest printing to file, with any postscript (PS) print driver, then convert to PDF with ghostscript, ps2pdf.com, acrobat distiller, etc.
On Unix or Windows, you can open PDFs using GIMP, and add in text like you would with any image. Then you can convert the images to a big PDF document if you like.
Personally, I would use something like pdf2html (requires ghostscript), and edit the resulting HTML document. From there you can decide if you want to return it as HTML, or convert it back into PDF.
Re:As a MA resident.... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:As a MA resident.... (Score:2)
Print the form, fill it out with sloppy handwriting forcing someone to puzzle their way through it.
Efax it to yourself, and you get a 200dpi scanned copy.
Email the resulting tif file to them.
When they complain about the unreadability, explain that perhaps a fillable form would have been better.
So what? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:So what? (Score:2)
Re:So what? (Score:5, Insightful)
If I was a MA resident I would be extremely alarmed.
s/executive/legislative/g (Score:5, Insightful)
Mod this up (Score:3, Informative)
What I think is quite 'kewl' about this is (Score:5, Insightful)
The simple fact that this is becoming a 3-ring circus of zealous charicatures means that it will continue to be an issue around the globe for longer than it takes Mass. to cash the checks from Microsoft. More likely than not, if MS wins the 'contract' battle, another virus will put paid to the value of that decision. Even if ODF is not firmly established in the Mass. IT arena, it is gaining ground elsewhere, and this circus just gives more publicity to the reasons for having ODF in the first place.
Re:What I think is quite 'kewl' about this is (Score:2, Insightful)
Companies are harder to influence than government, because the people running them have a direct self-interest in cutting costs. This is particularly so for small companies.
I'm starting to wonder how soon it will be that it will be acceptable to start sending out ODF files to people on the assumption that there's a 7
The whole enchilada... (Score:5, Informative)
http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/korn/LargePrintWe blog/20051113 [sun.com]
Cost control move (Score:4, Interesting)
"(1) procurement policies by commonwealth agencies, constitutional offices, and other government entities concerning computer hardware and software, cellular telephones, personal data accessories, and other information technology devices"
the single office in charge of contracting can force standardization and negotate discounted contracts. Combine that with implied savings from standardization of technologies and resulting reduction in support costs and you get a nice presentation at the end of the year that you can show all your bosses showing you saved the state $X million. With that level of spending the $X is going to be a mighty big number.
If its not something like that then somebody better make very sure any contract signed is arms length - the next most obvious rationale would be lining one's pockets.
That's just silly (Score:5, Insightful)
Think of how much it must have cost MS to "influence" all the people needed so that restructuring a state legislature isn't dismissed out of hand. To say nothing of the PR groups, the pay-for-pay reporting (mentioning no names, Boston Globe) and all the rest of it.
Anything Quinn might have wanted - it would have been cheaper to just give it to him. The fact that this wrangle is still going on suggests that this isn't about negotiated discounts or personal profit. Especially since Microsoft's preserving their highly lucrative office software monopoly with its 75% profit margins remains a far more plausible explanation.
Oh, and speaking of the Boston Globe, did you know they printed complete retraction of the smear job they did on Qinn? Right in the back where no-one would see it, but printed nevertheless. With all the current attempts to smear Quinn, I think any genuine dirt would have surfaced by now.
Lacking any actual wrongdoing, the best they can manage is cheap innuendo
Big Problem: Transfer Power from Local to State (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Big Problem: Transfer Power from Local to State (Score:2)
How do you know Ghod [slashdot.org]? What does he have to do with this? Confused
Re:Big Problem: Transfer Power from Local to State (Score:5, Insightful)
That's certainly not a principle of the American federal system. The state is the unit of sovereignty, historically speaking - power flows to local governments from the state, not to the state from local governments as you assert. Municipalities have as much or as little legal authority as the state grants them - no more and no less. In that light, this move is perfectly in accord with American traditions of federalism - the state of Massachusetts is simply retaking a power it almost certainly granted to local governments in the first place.
This should not be construed as an argument that it's necessarily a wise move, merely that the principles of federalism are not somehow discordant with it. You can certainly also argue that power should flow the way you wish it to, from the bottom up, but that's definitely not how it is now, nor is that how it's ever been.
It's the 10th amendment (Score:3, Insightful)
Then again, there's the commerce clause which states:
Clearly, if the states adopt incompatible document standards, there would be a problem. Ostensibly, Congress dealt with this issu
Can't follow article? (Score:3)
Re:Can't follow article? (Score:2)
From what I know of the situation, The controversy of opendocument has reached so far that the state government wants to create a taskforce that controls all IT decisions with 3 people in related business and 5 more who might not be in th now of those issues that take the IT decision makeing away form thenormal guy who
Re:Can't follow article? (Score:3, Informative)
This is based both on Quinn being better qualified to make the such decisons than most of the comittee, and on the inefficiency and potential dangers involved in
IT professionalism: fact or dilbert strip? (Score:4, Interesting)
The last time I was in an IT position as a developer/data analyst at a fortune 100 company, myself and the other memebers of the team kept saying, "Hey ******, things are technilogically bad here, and the IT department agrees, we really need to step things up and make the following 5 changes: ", (then we listed 5 boring, but neccessary changes).
So after that, ****** decided to hire a team of IBM consultants to determine what the real problem was. They promptly had a meeting with us, where we shared our 5 changes that needed to be made, and were told a week later that IBM came up with 5 amazing outside-the-box changes to turn the company around.
A year and a half later, I'm at a different job where I make the decisions, and ****** is in the same position they were before, with more and more money being poured into consultants while the IT professionals remain unheard.
And, just another warning about IT professionals: I had a boss once that refused to allow me to install a Linux-based webserver, and instead poured over $800 into software simply to run IIS. It took a few weeks to get the software in, another week to get it configured, and yet another week to lock it down tight and get the file permissions to run properly. (keep in mind IIS kindly ignores windows file permissions on a fairly random basis, at least from my experience.) Now that that IT Professional has left to do ASP development elsewhere, I spent 3 days learning how to set up a linux webserver and lock it down, and 1 day actually carrying out what I learned. It has thus far cost us nothing, and we have yet to get a virus.
IT professionals are the #1 target it seems for Microsoft donations, so its no wonder most are drooling over Microsoft Office software. Most individuals I've worked with (even the Microsoft Certified Developers) have chosen Open Source solutions this past year because of how much they've developed, and how easy they are to work with. Maybe we need a bureaucratic geek to make the decisions anyway, since the self proclaimed IT Professionals either aren't doing such a hot job, or don't have the power to make these decisions anyway.
One last bit of info: forcing the use of non-proprietary software for developing publically available documents should be federal law by now, IMO, and using proprietary software should be considered obstructing access to the public domain. Why not tear down the wheelchair ramps while we're at it? And if Microsoft is truly non-proprietary in their new XML format, then let's use that too, but don't side with a single vendor when a globally available standard is sitting there, free of charge, easy to implement, waiting to be taken advantage of.
Most for-profit vendors have always been just that, For Profit. Most Open Source solutions and free-domain solutions set forth by not-for-profit organizations have been just that, Not For Profit. If something isn't for profit, and isn't for political gain, then odds are it is strictly being developed for the betterment of society. I guess the honest question now, when confronted with accepting the logically obvious decision, is "Why start now?", to which I say, "To make up for lost times."
Re:IT professionalism: fact or dilbert strip? (Score:2)
Are you really suuggesting that IT decisions be only made by people with no qualifications or experience in the field. That would seem to to rule you yourself out judging from your post.
Perhaps we should similarly stop doctors from making medical decisions, or architects from designing buildings?
Re:IT professionalism: fact or dilbert strip? (Score:2)
So what do you know? You don't know anything about the company, anything about the IT situation in that company, nothing about the poster and his boss and their qualifications, y
Scope creep? (Score:5, Insightful)
So basically, from the featured article, an "amendment" to an economic bill can result in rather severe changes to how the various parts of the MA government can operate? Somehow this seems familiar, we've seen these things happen before in the EU and elsewhere in the US when certain big mono- and oligopolists wants something which is not quite within scope of the currently proposed legislation, something that would be more obviously suspect if proposed as a separate bill.
Perhaps it is time for general ban "riders" and "amendments" that change the overall meaning of some proposed regulation, unless their consequences have been evaluated, or perhaps just an overall ban: if a bill is to be changed or augmented, it has to be cancelled and reintroduced from scratch. Something needs to be done about rampant law-making in general, this part of governments have been allowed to run riot and overwhelm the judicial processes. In MA as elsewhere.
Of course, this would just be another law, adding to the mess...
Re:Scope creep? (Score:3, Interesting)
You might want to support these people [downsizedc.org]. Put simply, they want to make Congress actually read every single bill out loud, in its entirety, and have those who vote on it sign an affidavit stating that they understand what they're voting for. This implies that any post-reading amendments would require another full reading before being voted on, which would stop any secret clauses being i
Just like any company (Score:4, Insightful)
extremism (Score:4, Insightful)
The 'free market' --in this case, everyone stuck on Microsoft proprietary formats--IS NOT FREE IN ANY WAY.
If it was up to dada21 the USA would abandon all of its social programs. Does he understand that this is not the state governments telling companies what to do, it is their own damn internal policy?
"Taxachusetts"? Ever been to Europe, buddy? Alabama (failing schools, shitty roads, ridiculous poverty) is not the centre of the universe.
Nice troll.
Just a data-point about European taxes (Score:2)
Going to buy a house in the New Year (been saving all year for the deposit - $800k for a house is almost as bad as London!) so I'll get a larger tax-break then, but I rented in London too...
Simon
Re:extremism (Score:2)
Opinion vs. opinion (Score:2)
However, State ITD is not really going about this the right way. You need to have discussion, specifications need to be drawn up, you need to write an RFP and go to bid, etc. They chose a format with
Re:Opinion vs. opinion (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Opinion vs. opinion (Score:3, Insightful)
Untrue, because the stage of the process where a vendor is selected hasn't even started yet. They had a process they used to decide on which document format would fit thier standards, and they chose OpenDocument. The hoopla now is over that, and is only incidentlly about which vendor will actually be used for deployment - which, o
Re:extremism (Score:2)
What rights, specifically, are you talking about? MS has used the government very sparingly. The closest things I can think of to support your assertion are MS's use of copyright, their filing of (but AFAIK, never enforcing) patents, and the occasional lawsuit. Are these what you are referring to?
Yet government is looking to use a power not applicable to you or I - standards through force.
Not everything the government do
Re:extremism (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Abandon all hope... (Score:3, Insightful)
The FDA, for example, approves drugs for general use by all people and companies in the US. On the other hand, this CIO approves (for example) operating systems for use by the government itself.
For these to be comparable, it would have to be more like "FDA approves drugs for everyone, and this CIO decides
Re:Abandon all hope... (Score:2)
Unless you need to READ any of the documents your state makes available, or you need to electronically SUBMIT any documents to the state government. I would say that's a whole lot of governed people being affected.
Re:Abandon all hope... (Score:2)
Re:Abandon all hope... (Score:5, Insightful)
In Massachussetts, what percentage of the people are using Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF, and what percentage of them are using software that support ODF?
So what you're saying is that because we use a closed format today we should use it tomorrow. And because we use it tomorrow we should use it the next day? And so on ad infinitum?
Sometimes you need to make a short term investment for long term gain. This is one of those times.
The same applies to any organisation with vendor lockin, on an upgrade train or lacking needed transparency.
---
Paid marketers are the worst zealots.
Re:Abandon all hope... (Score:2)
If it takes 5 year to implement, chances are most users already heavily invested in microsofts format would have replaced thier computers due to hardware failures. Ever open a document created in word 2003 with word 98? Thats about 5 years. This transition isn
Re:Abandon all hope... (Score:2)
Consider that new people are being born every minute...
By using ODF, the barrier-to-entry is reduced to the price of hardware, the entire software stack can be obtained for free. Hardware being a tangible good will always have a production cost associated with it and there's nothing the state can do about that..
By using msoffice anyone who doesn`t already have a copy will need to buy one (in order to remain legal) and may end up spend
Re:Abandon all hope... (Score:2)
Re:Abandon all hope... (Score:2)
Re:Abandon all hope... (Score:2)
I fully support ODF as long as the licensing allows incorporation into closed source software.
I believe Microsoft is attempting to control the situation using legal mechanisms that are standard when dealing with government.
I think ODF would save me dozens of hours a year in State document filing.
But I don't think the problem is with MS. They're using loopholes set by the State and taking advantage of the power conferred to the politicians. Government has too much power,
Re:Abandon all hope... (Score:2)
OK, in general I agree, but in this context this is a completely asinine thing to say. The government SHOULD have the power to decide what file formats work best for their purposes, and they should NOT be expected to simply accept whatever format any citizen decides they want to use.
To be honest, it really isn't clear what side you're arguing for, and frankly you're really just coming off as a raving lunatic and conspiracy theorist.
I fully support ODF as long as the licensing al
Re:Abandon all hope... (Score:2)
Microsoft is nuts to not support ODF, but I understand their reasoning. They don't support any creative commons licenses in their product. I think they're back about a decade in this think
Re:Abandon all hope... (Score:2)
Microsoft is nuts to not support ODF, but I understand their reasoning. They don't support any creative commons licenses in their product.
Uh, its a standard, there is no license, Microsoft doesn't seem to have a problem supporting things like TCP/IP.
Re:Abandon all hope... (Score:2)
Yeah, a lot of people are not grasping that.
Re:Abandon all hope... (Score:2)
Then charge an extortionate fee for it`s use.
Re:Abandon all hope... (Score:2)
Re:Abandon all hope... (Score:2)
How about saving money? Merely by standardizing they will save money, even if they choose the most expensive option. Or are you also against saving tax dollars?
As for your repetitive licensing mantra: Your customers are uninformed, and apparantly so are you. You might want to do a little basic research before you go spouting off about things. Or, you know, you could try actually reading the responses you get.
Re:Abandon all hope... (Score:2)
Your argument is absurd, go sit in the troll corner for 15 minutes.
My customers are fearful that this mandate
Really? So are they stupid, are you misinforming them, or just overcharging them for what is free software?
Re:Abandon all hope... (Score:2)
Re:Abandon all hope... (Score:2)
And if they absolutely, positively WANT TO use Microsoft Orifice, well, they can always "SAVE AS" word format.
Sheeeesh!!!
Re:Abandon all hope... (Score:2)
I would wager that by the time they had to change, Microsoft would have support in a new product as well as it being close to thier products end of life cycle anyways. Ever try to open a document created in word 2003 with word 9
Re:Abandon all hope... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Abandon all hope... (Score:2)
Off-topic. We're discussing how Massachusetts manages its own employees. IT workers who do not work for the commonwealth will not be affected either way.
"Now, when someone recommends that bureaucrats set IT standards, it's tyranny!"
Did you even read the summary?
Re:Abandon all hope... (Score:3, Insightful)
The only thing worse than pure, unfettered bureaucracy is pure, unfettered capitalism.
Both are essential to keep each in check.
Re:Abandon all hope... (Score:4, Insightful)
That is what our federal government is. Drug companies support the FDA for quasimonopoly power. Radio conglomerates support the FCC. Teacher's unions support th DOEd.
Where do we differ?
Re:Abandon all hope... (Score:2, Insightful)
There is no hope in saying it isn't so, the sky is blue only when you can see blue.
Re:Abandon all hope... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Abandon all hope... (Score:2)
Re:Abandon all hope... (Score:2)
Let me paraphrase reply:
Who locks vendors into their software?
I can lock employees and vendors to my business with a non-compete agreement.
Who tried to block other media players on their OS?
If software is property, I can restrict who uses my land.
Who committed numerous acts of perjury at their antitrust trial
Re:Abandon all hope... (Score:4, Insightful)
Also, I reject your fallacy of trying to redefine what I say as some sort of land analogy. I said nothing of the kind. See my reply in the cousin thread.
Re:Abandon all hope... (Score:3, Interesting)
Locking vendors into your software isn't a monopolistic practice, it is common every day business practice and has been since time immemorial. You propose instead what? That Microsoft create and give to the world standards that anyone can write to for any platform? That's like telling Hardinge to create and give to the worl
Re:Abandon all hope... (Score:2)
Yeah, Microsoft has the right to do whatever they want with their OS, true. However, I was thinking of how Microsoft was found guilty, I believe, of trying to sabotage Quicktime on Windows95, issueing updates that were meant and designed to break the program, and delivering cryptic and literally baseless error messages, in order to turn users away fro
Re:Abandon all hope... (Score:3, Insightful)
Microsoft has every right to do with their OS whatever the Hell they wish and it is t
Re:Abandon all hope... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Abandon all hope... (Score:2)
Who keeps Atlantis off the maps? Who keeps the Martians under wraps?
Who holds back the electric car? Who makes Steve Gutenberg a star?
Re:Abandon all hope... (Score:4, Insightful)
Therefore Microsoft is not a monopoly? Ooh, I know this one. A-prioristic Randroid "reasoning." Your syllogism is missing a middle term.
And your epidermis is showing. ;-)
Re:Abandon all hope... (Score:3, Insightful)
A good example of a natural monopoly is the market for electricity and water. A monopoly can most efficiently deliver these services, so a free market will result in a monopoly. No government involvement is needed for the monopoly to occur.
Government regulation _is_ needed, however, if electricity and water to be priced at economically efficient levels. A private monopoly will pric
Re:Abandon all hope... (Score:2)
If MS sold strictly direct-to-consumers, I'd be concerned. They don't. 12,000 retail companies are not forced to sell Windows/Office. They're asked to by their customers.
Re:Abandon all hope... (Score:2, Insightful)
What do you mean by "privatized"? The providers weren't regulated at all? I didn't say the government had to _provide_ water and electricity - it probably would be best if they didn't - I said they had to _regulate_ it. I'm pretty sure all drinking water in the U.S. is regulated by the FDA or EPA anyway, so there can be no such thing as "privatized" water. Furthermore, what do you mean by "mor
Re:Abandon all hope... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Abandon all hope... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Abandon all hope... (Score:2)
Re:Yeah, this is important... (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm not exactly sure what the state of MA IT Director has to do with any of these topics, but choosing a standardized document format would be right up his alley. Unless of course MA's Head IT Guy has a Super-Gov-MegaBot which can cure everyone, end wars, fix SS, Education and the Economy in one fell swoop...
This is important. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Yeah, this is important... (Score:2, Insightful)
If we fix all this other important stuff, the money saved alone should allow us to pay for anyhtign that might come from using a single vendor in all our data retention needs. Why waist it on wars or impr
Re:Yeah, this is important... (Score:2)
It hasn't occurred to you that
Re:Yeah, this is important... (Score:3, Insightful)
Why on Earth are you wasting your time posting on /.? Shouldn't you be in Africa helping the starving, researching AIDS-remedies, preventing global warming and trying to win the War on Terror
Re:Yeah, this is important... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Yeah, this is important... (Score:2)
*worry*
*worry*
Re:temper tantrum (Score:2)
Until all business, non-profits, and unions are prevented from lobbying, they can not be trusted to have our (the voters) best interest at heart.
Re:temper tantrum (Score:2)
I do question the powers they have though. stoping them from imputing altogether would be much like employers only increasing profits by 2% and employies demanding a 15% increase in pay each year. Eventualy someone isn't going to have any money. The
Re:temper tantrum (Score:2)
Why? Are you saying that a corporations input into gov. will actually increase the gov's intake as well as lower their cost? From everything that I have seen, when a corp. inputs into a gov. the gov loses money (and possibly a few politians will get rich).
In addition, if a company wants to deal with the gov. the
Re:temper tantrum (Score:2)
I guess my point could have been state differently. That is if a company opens a plant in this state, they should have some input to the laws and regulation being made in that state. This doesn't mean the state needs to be thier customers rather they are customers of the state. They use thier services and protections as any indevidual might but have a greater impact to the economics o
Re:temper tantrum (Score:2)
Re:temper tantrum (Score:5, Insightful)
The decision to adopt ODF was not an arbitrary CIO decision. A process was followed to identify the needs of the Commonwealth. Then there was a panel composed of industry representatives, (Microsoft, Sun, Novell, Redhat and others were all there.) PDF and ODF were determined to be the best fit for document formats that meet the needs of the Commonwealth. Being open formats, they are well documented, they will be readable generations from now, and their openness ensures that Massachusetts can accept bids from a variety of vendors. There's also a big piece about converting data from legacy systems.
As for the elected officials being concerned with the document format --- consider if the IT department does nothing. Within a few years everyone will be creating MSXML formatted documents, with no input from elected officials, and what's more to the point, with absolutely no examination of the implications of that format change.
"If the ELECTED officials want to form a task force of qualified industry specialists to analyze a change in THEIR state that will affect the people they represent they are not only entitled to do so, but should." -- Did you read the article? The task force consists of 8 people, possibly 3 of whom will know anything about technology. Of those 3, two will be representatives from industry -- one in IT, one in telecom. The remaining 5 people all have other full time duties. The point of the fine article is that the CIO is being strongly supported by the General Counsel to the department that will be affected by the ODF document policy. (In case you didn't realize it, the move to ODF was a policy decision within the Executive Branch, the response is coming in the form of an amendment being considered by the Legislative Branch-- an amendment which, according to general counsel, will effectively paralyze the Commonwealth.
So getting back on track here, keep the following points in mind. (1) Mass. ITD did something well within their mandate, and they did it in a public and proper way. (2) A member of the Mass. legislature became upset or fearful, perhaps due to influence from a large corporation's lobbyists (3) In response, an amendment with far-reaching effects on the commonwealth's ability to conduct business was attached to an unrelated bill. (4) A department whose job is to point out the implications of government decisions has weighed in against the amendment.
In summary, this is a good thing. Whether you are for or against vendors actually meeting the stated needs of their customers, you must agree that an ill-considered amendment to an unrelated bill is not the best way for a legislator to deal with his fear of change.
Re:This question seems obvious, but... (Score:4, Insightful)