[clue-talk] Know anyone in the State IT dept?

[Grant Johnson]

Copy of what I sent to the CIO's office:




My name is Grant Johnson.   I am not currently a resident of Colorado,
but have been in the past.   I have worked with your current CIO,
Michael W. Locatis.  If you ask him, he should remember me from Time
Warner, and will vouch for my technical reliability.

I am writing in reference to the recent Slashdot article.   Yes, I know
that Slashdot tends to cause a tsunami in the technical world.   That is
why, rather than just referencing the web browser issue, I would like to
ask you to take a close look at your IT department as a whole.

In times such as these, when costs are rising while revenues are
falling, it is an absolute necessity to be a good steward of what
resources we have.  This will lead some citizens to choose lower cost
options for their computing.   These may not have Internet Explorer
available.  For instance, recently, it was possible to purchase a small
notebook (netbook) for less than 200 dollars onling.   This will open up
the world of computing to many who could not previously afford it.
Similar machines are available at Target for under 300 dollars today.
As more of the aplications we use move online, and the actual desktop
machine becomes less important, this will happen even more.

You need to make an effort to use standard, published document formats
for disemination to the public, so that citizens can use them without
needing to support one particular company.  Good examples of these
formats are PDF, plain text, and HTML. This is an absolute necessity for
truly open communications with the citizens of the state.

You also need to simply make your web presence standards compliant.
If you do, it will move the burden for things rendering and working
correctly onto the software vendors, and reduce the workload on your
staff, saving your departments money as well.

Open standards can simultaneously improve your costs, while adding to
the transparency of information, to the citizens regardless of brand of
computer or physical disability.  On top of that, it is just the right
thing to do.

Mike is free to contact me on my cell phone or by email if
he has any concerns regarding this correspondence.