October 28, 2009
Government leads the way
This is a big deal:
L.A. votes to "Go Google"; pressure shifts to Google and the cloudThe Los Angeles City Council today voted unanimously to “Go Google,” approving a $7.25 million contract to outsource the city’s e-mail system to Google’s cloud and transition some 30,000 city employees to the cloud over the coming year, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.
Clearly, this is a big deal for the city of Los Angeles. But this vote is also monumental for cloud computing as a whole, which has gained popularity and widespread interest but still relatively little adoption as companies - and municipalities, apparently - weigh the anticipated cost benefits over the unknown risks that might come with system failures or data breaches.
It interests me first on a tech level. Cloud computing makes a lot of sense to me, and an adopter of this size will be a huge uplift. I'm more interested in cloud back-end than the Google front-end, but this is pretty ballsy of them to do both.
On the political side, it's probably not ballsy. Have the unions made it to IT yet? (That AFSCME video runs through my head every day.) I am guessing this is a "safe" place for governments to try to save money without disrupting the unionized workforce.
If you're down at city hall, Brother Keith, paying some speeding tickets or something, be sure to tell them that jk says "well done!"
Good thing the City of Los Angeles has all this extra money just lying around to throw at this issue and no bigger problems to address that take priority over this one. Oh, wait...
Especially with Mayor Villareconquista's current scheme of meddling with the real estate industry to protect his homies - who are the largest segment of homeowners underwater on their mortgages as a result of getting into their loans as a result of falsified earnings information, and the consequences or the Community Reinvestment Act - which will only make it harder for legitimate homebuyers to get loans, and put homeownership farther out of reach.
Love the idea of cloud computing - and of course, I'm salivating over the almost certainty of a good data breach making a lot of embarrassing City e-mails seeing the light of day.
Speaking of tech envy and salivating, by the way, I've been looking into the Android-2.0-driven Motorola Droid as my next phone, which will leapfrog all my Crackberry-toting officemates. Anyone have any thoughts to share on the Droid?
Posted by: Keith at October 28, 2009 3:53 PMSomebody hit a nerve with speeding tickets???????
I'll do the cloud defense. I am guessing the seven million and change was deemed a lot less expensive than paying your super-productive municipal worker to manage physical hardware and Microsoft applications. Were it close, they'd certainly keep the drones for patronage positions. So I say it is a cost cutting move and potentially smart.
On the security, that will be up to Google and again, I am comparing your average Google tech with the guys at the DMV and I don't think you're stepping down. For Google <charliechanvoice>with great opportunity come great danger</charliechanvoice> if their security is not up to snuff, they have lost the ability to sell cloud computing.
Posted by: jk at October 28, 2009 4:09 PMHeh - no, I've managed to avoid enriching the LAPD on the speeding ticket issue...
You don't have to defend cloud to me, I'm a supporter; in fact, because the LA City government manages to have everything it touches turn to Mazola and messily run through their fingers, I'm merely stunned to see them make a RIGHT decision. Stopped clock and all that, I suppose, plus I never miss an opportunity to take a poke at Mayor Villadivorsa.
Posted by: Keith at October 28, 2009 4:31 PMA hot Mustang and no tickets -- you are truly a man of discipline and control!
No doubt I'm being too anguine, governmnet will screw it up somehow, but I think this might be a really good move.
Posted by: jk at October 28, 2009 5:38 PMFull disclosure: I didn't say no tickets. Just none by the LAPD.
Carry on...
Posted by: Keith at October 28, 2009 6:22 PMOnce I'd been married to his sister for long enough that I thought he considered me "family" I asked my brother-in-law, an LAPD sargeant, how to get out of speeding tickets. He said, "Drive the speed limit."
Yeah, like anyone's gonna do that.
Posted by: johngalt at October 29, 2009 3:53 PMI've had many disagreements with Speaker Gingrich o'er the years, but there's a bon mot of his that describes American culture very well. He claims that speed limits are "benchmarks of opportunity." A quote for the ages.
Posted by: jk at October 29, 2009 5:09 PM | What do you think? [7]