Microsoft Takes on Large IT Systems Integrators
Posted on November 11, 2004 by Scott Leberknight
Carl linked to a really good article on how Microsoft may change the world. This will be really interesting to track, to see if they succeed and if they do, how much the large system integrators like IBM and EDS will start to squirm. Far too long have these types of companies been allowed to bungle hundred-million dollar contracts and then get awarded the next one to do it all over again. Having worked on a multi-year $500 million waste of taxpayer money for a year and a half of my life in 2001-2, it would be nice to see someone (even if it is Microsoft) teach those companies how software development should be done. On a 200 person project, you should see the looks you get when you tell managers you could take 10-20 really good developers and have it done not only faster but also better. But that's really not that difficult since most of the time those types of contracts never deliver anything at all. That project I worked on? It started in 2001, is still going, and still hasn't delivered anything at all. But the contractor is sitting pretty with $500 million in revenue, so what do they care? I would have delivered working software many times over by now, and gone on to the next challenge while the big integrators sit on the same contract for 20 years maintaining the status quo.