Software

When are we going to learn that government can't procure custom-designed software the same way it procures plumbing supplies or paving stones? Reading of the suspension of Anne Arundel County's multimillion-dollar emergency dispatch system due to "software problems," I couldn't help but shake my head ("Anne Arundel suspends use of new emergency dispatch system," Dec. 23"). This was yet another example of a government bureaucracy that stubbornly insists that it can procure custom-designed software the same way it procures plumbing supplies or concrete for paving.

The Obama presidential campaign is debuting its latest online campaign organizing tool for the 2012 election, one that is expected to be use by volunteers across the country to connect with voters. The Wall Street Journal had a report on the tool -- called Dashboard -- that the Obama campaign is unveiling today. President Obama ran an aggressive online campaign back in 2008. Expect more online blitzes this year. Meanwhile, Mashable reports Mitt Romney has his own online social network for volunteers, called MyMitt . I'd love to hear from volunteers in Maryland who are using these online tools to help these campaigns with organization.

Last year, Baltimore court officials sent a quarter-million summonses to potential jurors, culled from driver's license and voting records, knowing that only a fraction — about 27 percent — of those called would show up. The city has tried offering restaurant coupons, parking discounts and a "Juror Appreciation Week" to bring in more people over the years — threatening some of the worst truants with jail time — but the efforts have...

April 26 is "World Intellectual Property Day," a day designated to increase public awareness about how intellectual property rights promote innovation and creativity. The federal government is working to prevent counterfeiting and piracy, but the government needs help from vigilant citizens who understand why intellectual property rights matter. In order to promote economic, scientific and creative progress, the Constitution expressly empowers Congress to give authors and innovators the exclusive right to profit from their writings and discoveries.

Deborah A. Rice, a former software designer and volunteer, died Monday of head and neck cancer at her Timonium home. She was 42. Deborah A. Budacz, the daughter of a steamship executive and a homemaker, was born in Baltimore and raised in Towson. After graduating from Towson High School in 1985, she earned a bachelor's degree in computer science from Loyola College. Mrs. Rice went to work for Century Computing, a Laurel software development company, as a member of a team that developed software for certain control systems used on the NASA space shuttles.

The Baltimore County school system has paid a Georgia software company hand-selected by Superintendent Joe A. Hairston at least $4 million over the past decade without seeking competitive offers from other companies. In doing so, procurement experts say, the school system did not follow commonly accepted purchasing practices that would have required the system to fully explore whether similar products were on the market. Concern about the lack of transparency in the school system's business practices has been growing among county lawmakers for the past year, since they began questioning the ethics of another deal that Hairston struck with a colleague.

Chris Ashworth had studied computer science but never written an entire piece of software when a North Carolina theater production company asked for his help. What he came up with would be a huge hit with creative professionals who design elaborate stage productions across the world. The theater company needed software that could help manage sound effects for a play while running on an Apple computer. Ashworth was a computer science graduate student in North Carolina, and he and a friend built one for them in a little over a month.

The computer industry has a knack for creating big solutions to big problems. But what about the little problems, like printing addresses on envelopes?It seems that most offices I visit, no matter how computerized, have at least one typewriter around for typing on envelopes. Traditional PC printers and software make the job too cumbersome, but there are some solutions.Most laser printers, for example, have a tray where you can feed in envelopes and other odd-sized documents. However, your word processing program may not have any idea where to put the information.

If you're setting up a home or small business computer, chances are you'll need word processing software, along with spreadsheet, data base, graphics program or possibly all three.A few years ago, you would have had two choices: an inexpensive, integrated program that provided basic functions in most of these categories but fell short for serious business use, or an expensive investment in heavy-duty software that might well have totaled over $1,000.Thanks to the marketplace, you're much better off today.

Intersolv Inc., a Rockville-based software development firm, said yesterday that it has acquired SQL Software Ltd.Intersolv took over SQL in return for approximately 1.3 million shares of Intersolv common stock. The deal was valued at about $20 million.Intersolv, which was founded in 1982, helps companies develop specialized software.SQL, based in Hertford, England, crafts customized software assembly processes."It's an area we were not involved in, and the market's really young," said Intersolv President and Chief Executive Officer Gary Greenfield.

A Windsor Mill man, a former NASA employee, has pleaded guilty in Delaware federal court to buying more than a million dollars' worth of pirated software from black-market Chinese vendors who themselves were indicted Wednesday in federal court in Delaware, said the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, or ICE. Cosburn Wedderburn, 38, described as a former NASA employee by federal authorities, recently pleaded guilty to conspiracy to...

Maryland energy regulators have ordered Exelon Corp. to explain how the company "inadvertently" violated some conditions related to its merger with Baltimore's Constellation Energy Group. As part of Maryland Public Service Commission's approval for the deal, the companies agreed to several conditions, including selling Constellation's three coal-fired plants in Maryland to mitigate concerns over market concentration in the mid-Atlantic electricity grid. Until the plants could be sold, the companies agreed to sell power from those facilities as well as others in the region's wholesale energy market at a price it costs to operate the plants, said Exelon spokeswoman Judith Rader.

Last year, Baltimore court officials sent a quarter-million summonses to potential jurors, culled from driver's license and voting records, knowing that only a fraction — about 27 percent — of those called would show up. The city has tried offering restaurant coupons, parking discounts and a "Juror Appreciation Week" to bring in more people over the years — threatening some of the worst truants with jail time — but the efforts have...

Blackboard Inc., a major provider of Internet-based education software based in Washington, on Monday acquired a small Baltimore-based competitor to stake its claim in the open source software technology. Blackboard bought Moodlerooms Inc., which has 82 employees in Baltimore, for an undisclosed amount, and said it intends to allow the company to operate independently. As part of the same announcement, Blackboard said it acquired NetSpot, another competitor in Australia that also uses a similar open-source technology platform as Moodlerooms Blackboard, a privately held company founded in 1997, licenses commercial software used by schools, companies and government agencies for online learning and organization.

A Joppa man was sentenced Tuesday to nine months in prison for stealing funds from the Housing Authority of Baltimore and other public housing agencies across the country through software that his company developed and maintained for the agencies' use, prosecutors said. Jack G. Stout, 65, "illegally transferred funds from public housing authorities in Baltimore and in other states" using a computer program called Public Housing Authority Software that his company, Modern Software Technology Inc., developed and maintained, according to a statement Tuesday from Maryland's U.S. Attorney's Office.

Sorry to have no video joke on offer this week. The holiday staffing schedules got in the way of recording, but the joke of the week will return next week. There is still time for you to sign up for “Charged Language: Dealing with the Unspeakable in Copy,” my audio conference for Copyediting newsletter. It runs 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. this Thursday, January 12, and you'll have an opportunity to express your own concerns and views about dealing with profanity, vulgarisms, euphemisms, and similarly ticklish topics.

When are we going to learn that government can't procure custom-designed software the same way it procures plumbing supplies or paving stones? Reading of the suspension of Anne Arundel County's multimillion-dollar emergency dispatch system due to "software problems," I couldn't help but shake my head ("Anne Arundel suspends use of new emergency dispatch system," Dec. 23"). This was yet another example of a government bureaucracy that stubbornly insists that it can procure custom-designed software the same way it procures plumbing supplies or concrete for paving.

Seconds after a passenger stepped through an advanced-imaging machine at a BWI Marshall Airport security checkpoint, an image of a human body popped up on a video screen. It did not show the passenger's body as it appears under his clothing. No physical imperfections or private parts were in sight. And that is the point of the new technology demonstrated Friday at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. The image, displayed where both the passenger and a security officer could see it, bore little resemblance to the graphic depictions of individuals that have aroused the anger of many fliers.