What a poorly written article.

I'm guessing it's not a coincidence that this story and this story happened in the same county.

"No, those operating systems are too complicated. We'll write one for you that will be a lot better."

\Gotta remember that line.

Diogenes: And the bigger kicker to me is that it shouldn't matter what OS you're running. Applications these days are highly web-enabled and OS independent.

My wife works for the county and has told me horror stories about some of the systems they have to use and how much they cost the county to buy. And the kicker is that after hearing her tell me about what they do I figure I could write a web application that would work better and do more for half the price.

\And then retire on that amount of money

Cogsdale? Is it anything like this

The Wikipedia entry for Cogsdale:
Link (new window)

Diogenes: When I was a consultant for a very big company starting with the letter "O" I often considered going independent. But I just like the development work. I had no interest in going out and drumming it up.

I've been amazed at how much just came to me. All but one of my clients have been designers and small businesses I've met through Facebook or Twitter. And the one that I didn't meet through social networking I met at a party at my neighbor's house.

Adjective Bird Whiskey: Dinsdale?

You beat me to it...

AS/400 Web-Based GUI FTW

Cogsdale Software. Where the hell is their home office? Otisburg?

Operating Systems? PPffft!

LOAD "*", 8, 1

schattenteufel: The Wikipedia entry for Cogsdale:
Link (new window)

In their defense not every company has a Wikipedia page.

make me some tea: Good lord, what kind of kickback was the IT guy getting?

DING DING DING!

Babwa Wawa: When you go to a company's web site (new window) and they list only "solutions" without any "products," don't buy whatever "product" they're trying to sell you.

Let's see...
- Stock Photos: Check
- Microsoft partner: Check
- Meaningless business speak: Check.

If you were to make a site designed to appeal to local government officials I don't think you could do much better. All they're missing is a stock photo of a diverse group of people sitting around a conference table.

Oh wait, I found it. ^{(^)}

Diogenes:
When I was a consultant for a very big company starting with the letter "O"

That really narrows it down.

Looks an awful lot like it runs in windows....

Man, sometimes I wish I had a degree in computer science or whatever and had spent the '90s selling worthless, overpriced operating systems and billing systems and job management systems to ignorant business owners. I'd be retired in luxury right now.

Cogsdale sounds like an English village or a private school. These people know even less about promotion than they do about programming.

NOT an operating system, for Christ's sake.

But still, this is why I tend to stick with the big dogs. Yeah, Microsoft has it's problems, but at least I know they will still be here three months from now, and they regularly release bug fixes.

DjangoStonereaver: HUMAN TARGET.

I'm avoiding that show on principle. I understand that, when translating a comic book to TV, one has to make certain changes. If those changes involve abandoning the entire premise, it's probably time to find some other property to exploit.

The company is located in that bastion of technology, Prince Edward Island.

make me some tea: Good lord, what kind of kickback was the IT guy getting?

I'm guessing free lunches on a daily / weekly basis while discussing problems with the software (Vendors buying clients lunch is not uncommon), plenty of guaranteed overtime (As needed / wanted) to solve problems, Lower stress at the government level than corporate level.

Basically a cushy job where you get free lunch, determine how many hours you want to work (Determining your pay), and a steady job to boot. Sign me up.

Which OS do I choose? Whichever one is giving me the best cut, naturally.

What? Capitalism doesn't work that way?
What ever do you mean? Of course it does!
That's what makes America great!

Want some Freedom Fries with that?

/GAAAK! Now I have to go wash.

I can't wait to hear what Linux_Yes has to say on this subject.

Their website is all about Microsoft Dynamics and Microsoft Gold Certified Partner ... I'm guessing their running on Windows.

Article writer / subby are computer illiterate.

"But Nurrenbrock came up with a plan that would allow Cogsdale to have the system up and running by June of 2010. He says if Cogsdale doesn't deliver on time, they will refund the money the county has paid over the last several years -- about $1.2 million."

Headline: May 31, 2010 - Cogsdale files Chapter 7

PYROY: Diogenes:
When I was a consultant for a very big company starting with the letter "O"

That really narrows it down.

i hope you're being sarcastic....

The Icelander: "No, those operating systems are too complicated. We'll write one for you that will be a lot better."

\Gotta remember that line.

Loads of companies fall for a similar line regarding specialized software and buy proprietary software. They think if you can't buy it in a box at Office Max it doesn't exist.

I should develop proprietary software. Those companies make zillions off of the willingness of their customers to believe anything they hear. "This dental billing software costs $3,499, we come and install it, it comes with basic support but if you want gold-level support that's $599 a year plus $199 per office visit, and software upgrades come approximately yearly at $699 a pop."

Farking Canuck: their

Doh! I meant 'they're'!!!

/I can hear the grammar police outside my door
//I've got to hide!!

1. Referring to "Macintosh" as though it were a company
2. Inability to distinguish between an operating system and an application
3. Lack of realization that pretty much all ERP software sucks to varying degrees, and that this is hardly shocking
4. No concept of subject-verb agreement ("However, the problems with Windows is...")

Yup, good ol' mainstream journalism.

Like any organization, it sounds like the people making the decisions have no clue about technology.

Or the Reporter.
Or subby.