[citation required]

My old PC had a 400Watt power supply.
My old Halogen downlights were 50 Watts each

My laptop had a 90Watt power supply.
My new halogen downlights are 35 Watts each

My phone has a 1 watt charger. (also my tablet.)
My LED downlights use 7 Watts.

I'll stick with my gadgets and generate 1.5 KWh on average with the solar panels on the roof thanks.

Let's start with the two assumptions that

Government should be functioning in the best interests of their Citizens.
and
If there needs to be a subset of the group of Citizens, then Government should side with the one that benefits the most Citizens.

The Wealthy love their country enough to volunteer their own money to improve it as they see it. Do they necessarily have the same objectives as the two above? If so, then the Wealthy are not a corrupting force.

If the Wealthy use their influence to deviate the Government from the two above assumptions, then the Wealthy are a corrupting force. and should be examined closely with the second assumption in mind.

Sounds like you need someone to decide on a defined set of access systems and ONLY USE THOSE.

Training. 6 monthly mandatory security training. Presented well, covering all aspects of security.

Accountability. If a user does a stupid thing, make them personally liable for it. Warnings and firings work well.

Usability. My workplace offers 5 free licenses of a well known antivirus/firewall package for every employee for home use. That extends the circle of safety one more ring.

Security. Lock it down. Lock it down. Lock it down. What are the minimum rights that should be given for a user to do their job? That is all the rights they get.

To fix a small error in a script on the fly, notepad isn't bad. To make readable code a real IDE is great. To keep 40 or 50 concepts flying round your head, an IDE is almost indispensible. Being able to code with notepad is useful in select circumstances. For everything else there is

I just hacked our DNS to do the same thing.

Laugh? I almost spat.

No. It sounds to me like there were competent contract managers who simply asked for things to work out of the box like the sales droids said they would. When they failed that test, then they applied the stick to the carrot.

Oracle (Bless their little hearts) got a bit peeved that they would now have to earn their money rather than just grab the money and run. Things came to a head. Some negotiation happened and a way forward was worked out. Oracle will get paid when they deliver a product that meets a defined level of quality. In exchange, Oregon will lower the level of quality appropriately.

This sort of thing happens all the time in government contracts. I get to deal with these things reasonably regularly. When money is tight, even governments expect value for money. The IT firms sometimes have some adjustment to do.

Your welcome.

(see what I did there?)

s/Your/You're/

Where oh where are my mod points.

In the end it is all about communication. A person who makes communication easier is an asset to any project. If they are called a manager, whatever. I know I will listen to colleagues as they discuss their issues, and watch the light bulb moments as people answer their own questions by listening to themselves.

A good manager will run interference for the team and make sure they are supplied with what they need to get the task done.

Each phone has an IMEI burned into it's hardware. This IMEI and the phone number are transmitted to the cell tower every time you communicate. All IMEIs for a given carrier are whitelisted. What the system does is remove the IMEI of stolen phones from the whitelist. A hacker would have to change the IMEI of the phone to another one on the whitelist. This may be trivial or hard based on the hardware, but such systems have been active in Australia for 20 years now, and the market for stolen phones is still non existent.

MSFT can't afford to abandon the entry level market. All those low end phones that teenagers can afford on their prepaid plans all being loaded with Android. Later getting enough money for a plush smartphone.

Go with the platform and apps they know OR buy into an unknown platform and hope it's better than the one they are used to.

Why are ipod touches relatively cheap?

Coca Cola. A beverage. Quality is mistaken for consistency. Penfold's Grange. A beverage (Australian Shiraz for all those not willing to do the footwork) Quality places it at the top of the market for beverages.

Nike. "Everybody wears Nike" until you actually look at people who take their sport seriously. And then there are a plethora of shoe makers who offer custom fit shoes. Then it comes down to "Nike is worn by newbies, and people who are sponsored by Nike"

Ford. You buy Ford if you can't afford Aston, Rolls Royce, Lamborghini, Ferrari, etc etc

All examples of MBAs providing us with mediocrity when there are people out there trying to provide excellence...

Nope. That right is reserved for those who can competently operate wire cutters and have them stashed in their draw.