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There you have it folks - another large corporation gaining political power.

TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago
What's your comprehensive alternative? If you "want to do something BIG", that "BIG" thing is, by definition, going to have an impact. That is to say, it will exert some form of power. And you're probably going to have to do that with other people. Probably in the form of a corporation.
- maxsilver 8y ago
  > What's your comprehensive alternative? Why can't they build this themselves? If the DoD is such a large customer, has such precise needs and requirements, they should build their own datacenters with their own staff and manage it in-house. > (snip) And you're probably going to have to do that with other people. Probably in the form of a corporation. The government manages a nuclear arsenal and a space flight program. There's no valid reason they couldn't build and run their own server farm without giving it all away to Amazon/Microsoft/Google/Oracle. There's no good reason everything in the entire nation has to be privatized like this.
  - stale2002 8y ago
    Well,sure they COULD build it. But maybe that would cost 2-3-4 times as much as buying it? Why shouldn't they instead go with the best in the world? Presumably, the whole reason why they are doing this, is because they DID build it themselves a decade or so ago, and it didn't result in the best outcome. Government IT has quite a terrible reputation these days. The government should instead be pushing to have the best in the world.
  - massysett 8y ago
    The nuclear arsenal is maintained with the help of a huge complex of contractors.
- jessaustin 8y ago
  A much smaller military!
prolikewh0a 8y ago
Bezos was already on a Pentagon board [1], and already had contracts with the CIA [2]. Corporations run our government almost entirely, and are now getting into Military Industrial Complex. This is nothing new. [1] https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-ceo-jeff-bezos-joins-pentagon-defense-advisory-board-2016-8 https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-ceo-jeff-bezos-joins-... [2] https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/07/the-details-about-the-cias-deal-with-amazon/374632/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/07/the-d...

What's your comprehensive alternative? If you "want to do something BIG", that "BIG" thing is, by definition, going to have an impact. That is to say, it will exert some form of power. And you're probably going to have to do that with other people. Probably in the form of a corporation.

maxsilver 8y ago
> What's your comprehensive alternative? Why can't they build this themselves? If the DoD is such a large customer, has such precise needs and requirements, they should build their own datacenters with their own staff and manage it in-house. > (snip) And you're probably going to have to do that with other people. Probably in the form of a corporation. The government manages a nuclear arsenal and a space flight program. There's no valid reason they couldn't build and run their own server farm without giving it all away to Amazon/Microsoft/Google/Oracle. There's no good reason everything in the entire nation has to be privatized like this.
- stale2002 8y ago
  Well,sure they COULD build it. But maybe that would cost 2-3-4 times as much as buying it? Why shouldn't they instead go with the best in the world? Presumably, the whole reason why they are doing this, is because they DID build it themselves a decade or so ago, and it didn't result in the best outcome. Government IT has quite a terrible reputation these days. The government should instead be pushing to have the best in the world.
- massysett 8y ago
  The nuclear arsenal is maintained with the help of a huge complex of contractors.
jessaustin 8y ago
A much smaller military!

prolikewh0a 8y ago

Bezos was already on a Pentagon board [1], and already had contracts with the CIA [2]. Corporations run our government almost entirely, and are now getting into Military Industrial Complex. This is nothing new. [1] https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-ceo-jeff-bezos-joins-pentagon-defense-advisory-board-2016-8 https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-ceo-jeff-bezos-joins-... [2] https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/07/the-details-about-the-cias-deal-with-amazon/374632/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/07/the-d...