I suspect this is another one of those cases where the customer (government) wanted all kinds of features and monitoring but started to cut corners when it came with a price tag. It's amazing how little gets accomplished when the customer wants the pie in the sky features and doesn't realize it costs money.

Yes, I realize this works both ways. It could be that the requested monitoring and features were priced outlandishly by the contractor. In the end, everybody loses. All in all, I'm not going to hold my breath that whatever "technological error" produced this situation will get corrected. I fully expect it to be swept under the rug.

Mod parent up. This is a gem.

Yep, you beat me to it. I was going to comment... how is this cross-platform? It's all Windows technologies and .NET. That's hardly cross-platform. Show it to me on Windows, Linux, Mac, Wii, Xbox and PS3 and that'll be something to post an article about.

...for Gates patenting their complete business model. Is it more evil that Google didn't patent it, or is it worse that they kept it on the down-low?

Is this why cloud computing is supposedly cheaper (right now)? Someone should look at this as a data point and consider what the remedy might do to that cheap cloud computing. Here's a dot - it should be connected.

I jumped from the broadcast industry to the software industry once and had the same thought... I was shocked at how much time was spent in hallway discussions and whatnot.

Then I realized most of the discussions from the developers were centered around the code itself and creative approaches to solving problems. The sales and management folks were the ones walking around and talking about football. I decided this was part of the job. But you're right, there is a lot of time wasted in hallway discussions. ...and so, like they said earlier... enjoy your Sundays working...

Whattaya know. Just thought I'd point out - this strategy didn't work out so well for Apple when the iPhone first came out. They were booed into submission.

Why couldn't you capitalize on the situation and when interviews ask about this situation, explain everything with honesty? Everyone's made mistakes. Prove to your prospective employer that you know how to recognize your mistakes and learn from them. Showing this type of integrity should be a plus. If it's not a plus, you may want to reconsider your desire to work for them.

Sounds like just another group of clueless executives in the communications/IT industry. All they saw was dollar signs with this agreement with Apple. They had no idea of the impact on their network.

Just another day in the IT industry.

Didn't "Ground Control" warn us against this?

Dude, wtf? You aren't going to be married long with this line of thinking. Get off of it and buy your woman a fantastic gaming machine and forget this crap. It shows you care. Priorities, man. She IS paying attention to your choices.

Seriously. WTH.