[LINK] ISP's thrown $20 million bone by DCITA

[Robert Hart]

Jan Whitaker wrote:
> At 10:37 PM 14/03/2007, Skeeve Stevens wrote:
>> The Department of Communication Information Technology and the Arts 
>> (DCITA)
>> has notified Broadband Connect providers that the latest round of 
>> funding
>> allocated to the scheme had been spent and that it had stopped 
>> accepting new
>> claims against the fund.
>>
>> However, the department said that the government had placed up to $20
>> million at the fund's disposal to spend at its discretion to clear 
>> backlog
>> of claims lodged before the notice was issued.
>
> Has anyone else heard that DCITA is pursuing a new filter development 
> project for something like $80mil? I heard that at a conference this 
> week. And that AIIA isn't happy about it because of all the effort 
> that has already been put into the certification of filter systems 
> already. It's rumoured to be a 'from scratch' build, too.
And what's the betting that in order to use it you have to run one 
particular operating system - the one from MS. Despite it being the most 
insecure OS available. Is there even going to be a Mac version?

Of course the best way to actually achieve the end of it being both a 
worthwhile piece of software and available on all operating systems 
would be to create it as an Open Source project.

That however would mean the government would have to remove it's head 
from Bill Gate's arse  - a difficult job as that head is simultaneously 
and irretrievably wedged in Shrub's rear end as well.

-- 
Robert Hart                                  hartr at interweft.com.au
+61 (0)438 385 533                           http://www.hart.wattle.id.au