Comments on: US Government Launches Cloud Application Store, But The Toughest Questions Remain Unanswered

By: Government as Cloud Service Provider: The Battle Has Started

Government as Cloud Service Provider: The Battle Has Started — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:32:52 +0000

[...] where federal agencies might have choices between internal or external cloud services. How the GSA cloud storefront Apps.gov will evolve in response to this remains to be seen. [...]

By: Red Hat, Google Bold on Cloud Computing | Digital Media Buzz

Red Hat, Google Bold on Cloud Computing | Digital Media Buzz — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 11:30:38 +0000

[...] analyst Andrea Di Maio wrote on the company blog, that vendors like salesforce.com and Google are predominant. ”While this probably reflects [...]

By: Defense Information Systems Agency Accelerates Its RACE To Clouds

Defense Information Systems Agency Accelerates Its RACE To Clouds — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:13:25 +0000

[...] role will be in the evolution of OMB-GSA strategy on cloud computing (whose first step has been Apps.gov) and whether they will find themselves competing with vendors who move into the private cloud [...]

By: Defense Information Systems Agency Accelerates Its RACE for Clouds

Defense Information Systems Agency Accelerates Its RACE for Clouds — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:12:21 +0000

By: High Profile Government Social Network Gets Acquired: What Is GovLoop’s Future?

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 09:57:30 +0000

[...] with a few exceptions – not terribly active. Now that mainstream social media such as Facebook have received the federal blessing through Apps.gov, I wonder whether GovLoop will keep its edge or whether it will be slowly – or perhaps not too [...]

By: Vendors Catch The Apps.Gov Wind

Vendors Catch The Apps.Gov Wind — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:24:28 +0000

[...] ← US Government Launches Cloud Application Store, But The Toughest Questions Remain Unanswered [...]

By: SteveG

SteveG — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:41:37 +0000

A few of personal reactions / reflections on the Apps.gov announcement:

1. You mentioned the predominance of Google apps. So true. In fact, at the Government 2.0 event by O’Reilly last week in DC, Google execs – both past (e.g., Andrew McLaughlin, who now serves as deputy CTO to Aneesh) and present (Vint Cerf, Hal Varian, others) – were omnipresent on panels, being presenters, mixing in the audience, hosting the major event reception at their DC offices, etc.

2. Regarding the social media apps in Apps.gov: “yes” to Facebook but “no” to Twitter? Fascinating…

3. Regarding salesforce, browsing the Productivity apps section of the website, now we now what it costs for a million additional pages views for Force.com sites: $11,490.98 – will that be cash or credit?

Overall, my opinion is that what we are seeing is the consumerization (the G-to-C, i.e., govt-to-citizen) of federal data and web services, following the B-to-C (business-to-consumer) model of the dot-com era. It’s a very smart play by the current administration, providing a way for the Net Gen a chance to shift their energies from campaign to governance.

However, I predict, just as with B-to-C, G-to-C will run ahead of the G-to-G (or govt to govt, i.e., intra- and inter-agency) applications that we can expect to see. The challenges of shifting large-scale, enterprise systems, cultures, and processes in the distributed federal bureaucracy are enormous and must happen from within. I completely agree with your closing comment that the federal government initiative is no different than any other with regard to such issues.

The Obama administration (even if you give it 7 more years) can only get a start at this change, with efforts like Apps.gov. Because, with all such changes (the rise of the internet included), people tend to vastly over-estimate the speed at which such transformative change will take place, but likewise greatly underestimate the far-reaching scale and duration of the transformative change, once it takes hold and becomes the norm.

No doubt the changes will take hold at some point and I love the bold direction.

By: Twitter Trackbacks for US Government Launches Cloud Application Store, But The Toughest Questions Remain Unanswered [gartner.com] on Topsy.com

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:26:36 +0000

[...] US Government Launches Cloud Application Store, But The Toughest Questions Remain Unanswered blogs.gartner.com/andrea_dimaio/2009/09/16/us-government-launches-appsgo – view page – cached ← From Athens on the Net to Spartans at the Gates: The Missing Link of Government 2.0 — From the page [...]