In Through The Out Door

The Washington Post reports that the FBI’s new software system had to be scrapped since it doesn’t work. The $170 million project turned out to be nothing but 730, 000 lines of unusable code. It is tragic really. The software problem reports (SPR’s) with the system numbered in the hundreds, just as Zalmai Azmi (FBI technology chief) thought the project was mere weeks from completion. Many critics point to bad management and sloppy work by the contractor for this large scale snafu. It is kinda unnerving that one of the foremost agencies fighting terrorists is the most outdated in the computing department. Kinda makes you want to lock your doors at night and invest in body armor. One thing is for sure, the FBI needs to get with the program. It isn’t like they don’t have the resources to do it. The $170 million could have bought them a ton more than it has. With that kind of money, you could hire the best code hackers from the world’s largest software companies and do the job right. That is if you feed them enough junk food, Bawls, and have all-night code jams (aka hacker parties). Oh, yeah, and you could still have money to spare. And 730,000 lines of code is no problem for the elite (l337). How many lines does Windows XP or Linux have?