Category: IT

$TT 77 Million For Motor Vehicle Software

November 27, 2009 by Taran Rampersad

According to this story, the Government of Trinidad and Tobago is purchasing software from Nova Scotia that hasn't actually worked in Nova Scotia yet:

...The $12.9-million system at Nova Scotia’s registry has not worked as intended since it was introduced in April 2008.

"The problems we’re having in Nova Scotia is in how the software is working with our system, and we have a dedicated team that is working intensely on resolving the problem," Ms. Jennex said...

That equates to $77,461,283 TT dollars for software that is not working in Nova Scotia.

So - problem one is that the software isn't working where it is being purchased from. Problem two is that the Government of Trinidad and Tobago is investing in foreign software when we have the intellectual capital in Trinidad and Tobago to handle such a project. {Read more}

T&Ted? Privacy, Computers and Professionalism.

November 22, 2009 by Taran Rampersad

Yes, I saw the videos of Anya Ayoung-Chee. I did so out of curiosity and because they were available online. The cinematography wasn't great but the content was most certainly compelling - and of higher quality than locally made porn videos. Did I really need to see the videos? No, not really. If you asked me why I watched them, I could write (as Jonathan Miller did) that I saw them 'in the interest in journalism'. And that would be partly true. The real truth is that I wanted to see what everyone was talking about.

And the locally made porn videos? Everyone I have spoken to, both men and women, say that they watch them to see if they know the people in them - it certainly can't be the quality of the movies that attracts people. Trinidad and Tobago is a small country. We pay attention to things such as this, but can't seem to catch criminals. Perhaps instead of posting things on Facebook, they should consider releasing porn videos of criminals.

But back to the videos getting all the attention. Sure, Anya and friends were quite obviously having a consensually great time - enough so that it seems that everyone held the camera at one point or another. She says that she is waiting for the right time to talk about the issue, but what she is really doing is waiting for it to blow over. I know I would, though you won't find porn videos of me floating around. I just don't have the kind of draw she does. {Read more}

Taking On The Myth of a Local Silicon Valley

November 5, 2009 by Taran Rampersad

Ace Suares, a friend of mine in the Netherlands Antilles, has been hearing a lot about Trinidad and Tobago's IT initiatives through a group called iGovTT. Frankly, without Ace I wouldn't have been able to write this because I've been busy with other things over the last few days.

Apparently iGovTT been quite busy in Curacao telling people about their big plans while they don't even have a functional website.

Honestly, I had not even heard of iGovTT before. It was mentioned before in the newspapers, but only briefly and never anything of worth. From this document (PDF), mined through Google, their mission is: We are the first choice for ICT services globally through the exploitation of Trinidad and
Tobago’s knowledge-based society.

Seriously, they need to work on that vision statement. 'Exploitation' screams for a replacement word. Actually, the whole vision statement should probably be ground up and fed to stray dogs as a matter of saving the world from yet another idiotic vision statement.

Because of all of this, Ace has been pointing me at things within Trinidad and Tobago's local media - something that I truly appreciate - and this requires me to get to writing about what is wrong with what they're doing. The list of what they are doing right, in my opinion, is much shorter. Perhaps that's why they're trying to sell that short list in Curacao. {Read more}