UK Government spends thousands on iPhone apps....
6 July 2010 Last updated at 05:00 GMT BBC News has learnt that the Government has spent tens of thousands of pounds developing iPhone applications. A Freedom of Information (FOI) request revealed that development costs ranged from £10,000 - £40,000. These included a travel advice app from the Foreign Office and a jobseekers' tool. But the Home Office declined the FOI request for information on its iPhone apps, saying security concerns "prevent us from supplying information". The information comes just a few weeks after the government announced it was to conduct a review of all 820 of its websites. A report by the Central Office of Information has revealed that the government spent £94m on website development and running costs and £32m on web staff in 2009 - 2010. The most expensive application was a proposed Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) app that provides "a masterclass for changing your wheel". Documents seen by the BBC reveal that the DVLA Motoring Masterclass app would cost £40,000 and would also work out fuel mileage, act as a hazard light and track RAC patrols. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10514367
Aki, Does this upset you? Would it have mattered if the Government had spent the money on Windows Phone 7 or Android Apps? Sent from my iPhone On Jul 24, 2010, at 7:32, aki <aki275@googlemail.com> wrote:
6 July 2010 Last updated at 05:00 GMT
BBC News has learnt that the Government has spent tens of thousands of pounds developing iPhone applications. A Freedom of Information (FOI) request revealed that development costs ranged from £10,000 - £40,000. These included a travel advice app from the Foreign Office and a jobseekers' tool. But the Home Office declined the FOI request for information on its iPhone apps, saying security concerns "prevent us from supplying information".
The information comes just a few weeks after the government announced it was to conduct a review of all 820 of its websites. A report by the Central Office of Information has revealed that the government spent £94m on website development and running costs and £32m on web staff in 2009 - 2010. The most expensive application was a proposed Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) app that provides "a masterclass for changing your wheel". Documents seen by the BBC reveal that the DVLA Motoring Masterclass app would cost £40,000 and would also work out fuel mileage, act as a hazard light and track RAC patrols.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10514367 _______________________________________________ Skunkworks mailing list Skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks ------------ Skunkworks Server donations spreadsheet http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AopdHkqSqKL-dHlQVTMxU1VBdU1BSWJxdy1f... ------------ Skunkworks Rules http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=94 ------------ Other services @ http://my.co.ke
Philip :-))))) dont be i-Upset. BBC wrote the article, not me. May I quote some paragraphs from the BBC article : ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- development costs ranged from £10,000 - £40,000 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "It seems many Government bodies have given in to the temptation to spend money on fashionable gimmicks at a time when they are meant to be cutting back on self-indulgent wastes of money", he told BBC News. "It is ridiculous not only that they are commissioning these apps but that some of them are supposedly secret on grounds of national security. "Someone who is faced with losing their home because of high tax bills, or whose life is being ruined by crime isn't going to get any reassurance from knowing there's an app for that," he added -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By the end of May there were over 53,000 downloads of the Jobcentre Plus app, although critics have asked why someone who can afford both an iPhone and the expensive running costs would need a Jobcentre Plus app ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On Sat, Jul 24, 2010 at 1:31 PM, Philip Musyoki <pmusyoki@gmail.com> wrote:
Aki,
Does this upset you? Would it have mattered if the Government had spent the money on Windows Phone 7 or Android Apps?
Sent from my iPhone
Even you now Aki your iPhone vendetta imezidi. Move on. Technology comes and goes and for now, the iPhone is definitely with us tupende tusipende. If you focus too much on trees you fail to see the forest. There can be tremendous value in government investing in applications on the iPhone or indeed any other platform. Tell me you'd still complain if someone created this for Kenya http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/diy_democracy_civic_participation_for_t... On Sat, Jul 24, 2010 at 3:59 PM, aki <aki275@googlemail.com> wrote:
Philip :-))))) dont be i-Upset. BBC wrote the article, not me. May I quote some paragraphs from the BBC article :
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
development costs ranged from £10,000 - £40,000
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "It seems many Government bodies have given in to the temptation to spend money on fashionable gimmicks at a time when they are meant to be cutting back on self-indulgent wastes of money", he told BBC News. "It is ridiculous not only that they are commissioning these apps but that some of them are supposedly secret on grounds of national security. "Someone who is faced with losing their home because of high tax bills, or whose life is being ruined by crime isn't going to get any reassurance from knowing there's an app for that," he added
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By the end of May there were over 53,000 downloads of the Jobcentre Plus app, although critics have asked why someone who can afford both an iPhone and the expensive running costs would need a Jobcentre Plus app
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Sat, Jul 24, 2010 at 1:31 PM, Philip Musyoki <pmusyoki@gmail.com> wrote:
Aki,
Does this upset you? Would it have mattered if the Government had spent the money on Windows Phone 7 or Android Apps?
Sent from my iPhone
_______________________________________________ Skunkworks mailing list Skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks ------------ Skunkworks Server donations spreadsheet
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AopdHkqSqKL-dHlQVTMxU1VBdU1BSWJxdy1f... ------------ Skunkworks Rules http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=94 ------------ Other services @ http://my.co.ke
@Aki look at the figure of the amount spent on iPhone apps what percentage is it of the total. Sorry to say this but imekuwa vendetta sasa. Go to Rory Cellan-Jones blog, the BBC tech correspondent check the archives for the site that took much of the UK Gov expenditure, there are no apples there nor apps. V On Sat, Jul 24, 2010 at 4:30 PM, Rad! <conradakunga@gmail.com> wrote:
Even you now Aki your iPhone vendetta imezidi. Move on. Technology comes and goes and for now, the iPhone is definitely with us tupende tusipende.
If you focus too much on trees you fail to see the forest.
There can be tremendous value in government investing in applications on the iPhone or indeed any other platform.
Tell me you'd still complain if someone created this for Kenya http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/diy_democracy_civic_participation_for_t...
On Sat, Jul 24, 2010 at 3:59 PM, aki <aki275@googlemail.com> wrote:
Philip :-))))) dont be i-Upset. BBC wrote the article, not me. May I quote some paragraphs from the BBC article :
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
development costs ranged from £10,000 - £40,000
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "It seems many Government bodies have given in to the temptation to spend money on fashionable gimmicks at a time when they are meant to be cutting back on self-indulgent wastes of money", he told BBC News. "It is ridiculous not only that they are commissioning these apps but that some of them are supposedly secret on grounds of national security. "Someone who is faced with losing their home because of high tax bills, or whose life is being ruined by crime isn't going to get any reassurance from knowing there's an app for that," he added
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By the end of May there were over 53,000 downloads of the Jobcentre Plus app, although critics have asked why someone who can afford both an iPhone and the expensive running costs would need a Jobcentre Plus app
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Sat, Jul 24, 2010 at 1:31 PM, Philip Musyoki <pmusyoki@gmail.com> wrote:
Aki,
Does this upset you? Would it have mattered if the Government had spent the money on Windows Phone 7 or Android Apps?
Sent from my iPhone
_______________________________________________ Skunkworks mailing list Skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks ------------ Skunkworks Server donations spreadsheet
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AopdHkqSqKL-dHlQVTMxU1VBdU1BSWJxdy1f... ------------ Skunkworks Rules http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=94 ------------ Other services @ http://my.co.ke
_______________________________________________ Skunkworks mailing list Skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks ------------ Skunkworks Server donations spreadsheet
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-- Victor Ngeny Mobile +254751884373 GTalk: victormaritim Twitter: @ngeny Yahoo: vikngne Skype: victor.ngeny
ok, ok. no more iphone stuff from me.... :-) I have to remove the " i " key from my kybd, its become spontaneous. Rgds.
Government workers in the United Kingdom suggest the administration moves to open source software, replacing proprietary operating systems and proprietary office tools, in order to save money. Last month, UK Prime Minister David Cameron asked the 600,000 government workers to suggest ideas on saving money. From the almost 60,000 ideas that were submitted, the UK Treasury, the government department responsible for public finance policy and economic policy, last week published a selection of 31. "In terms of spending less - what about migrating the whole of government (the NHS, Education etc) from Microsoft products to Linux and open source software like Openoffice", is the eight item on the list. And suggestion number 28: "Annul the government’s agreement with Microsoft to provide software and operating systems (OS) to government departments and switch to open source software and Linux based operating systems. This would reduce costs by: Reducing the need to update hardware in line with new Microsoft OS releases. Linux OS and open source software has a lower whole life cost and is less susceptible to viruses. Support a more diverse spectrum of the IT industry, instead of one corporation; generating additional UK tax revenue." Publishing the list on 9 July, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne called on UK citizens to send him "their very best ideas on how to get more for less from our public services". The UK treasury warns the 31 ideas are not shortlisted for further work or implementation. "They will all be considered individually alongside the other ideas that have been put forward." However, it is not the first time Osborne suggests moving to open source. Writing in the Times daily newspaper on 3 February 2009, he recommended the British government to "follow the example of businesses all over the world and take advantage of open source technology". The UK government is looking for ways to reduce its 155 billion GBP (about 185 billion Euro) budget shortfall. http://www.osor.eu/news/uk-government-should-move-to-open-source-to-save-mon...
participants (5)
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aki -
Philip Musyoki -
Rad! -
Steve Obbayi -
Victor Ngeny