730,000 lines of unusable code
That's how the Washington Post describes the FBI's new software,the Virtual Case File (VCF), which cost the agency $170 million. Come to think of it, 730,000 lines of unusable code is a pretty good description of the whole government. In any case, the agency still has no viable alternative to its paper files. Or there's Google.
Comments (7)
quincunx
I wonder how many Americans believe their government can do all those neat things we see on 24 and Alias?
Good thing human imagination always surpasses government competence.
Published: August 22, 2006 8:15 AM
Phil R
Do you have a source for the $170,000 million figure, or is it just a typo? All other reports I've seen show it at $170 million, which is bad enough as it is.
Published: August 22, 2006 11:15 AM
billwald
Seems like that over the last several years every govt, state, and county agency has spent millions for software that doesn't work.
Published: August 22, 2006 11:24 AM
jeffrey
Whoops, whoops, typo. Fixed
Published: August 22, 2006 11:26 AM
Francisco Torres
Good grief . . . Aan example of how NOT to manage a project.
And people still think the government should manage a whole economy???
Published: August 22, 2006 11:54 AM
Curt Howland
"every govt, state, and county agency has spent millions for software that doesn't work."
[Chortle] Windows! Don't worry, everything will work fine after they pay for the next version upgrade.
Seriously, I'm not sure why anyone is surprised. The project is just too big to manage even ineffectively. Remember that bureaucracy becomes more inefficient as the project grows in size.
A larger budget to buy another computer system? More staff for running the new system? Sounds like a textbook bureaucratic "success" to me.
Published: August 22, 2006 2:50 PM
Tim Swanson
Speaking of the State largesse and Google, you all might be interested in this case-study of how Google revitalized the capabilities of the National Park Service... who was using that ineffective FirstGov service.
Though, I guess that would be like replacing government-issued gun powder with nitroglycerin in bombs. Sure it might be more effective/efficient... but the service is still living off of tax subsidies.
Published: August 22, 2006 3:31 PM