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July 14, 2004
Utah Driving Records Available Online (Almost!)
Utah driving records are now available over the Internet. Unfortunately, its not free ($7.25) and its only available for your own record. Driver records accessed online contain the following information:
- Driver's name and date of birth
- License number, type, and status
- Original license issue and expiration dates
- Commercial status and license endorsements
- Moving citations (citations issued for three years for non-alcohol and 10 years for alcohol-related violations)
- Arrests (all DUI arrests received in the past 10 years)
- Department actions
When I tried it, the system happily took my credit card data and then said:
An error has occurred. If you continue to have problems, contact customer support by going to: http://www.utah.gov/contact.htmlThere are no error details available.
That's special, isn't it. Of course if Utah Interactive takes $7.25 from me for nothing it won't be the largest amount of money I've given them for no good reason by a long shot.
11:24 AM | Recommend This | Print This
Tracking Mexico's Attorney General and Japanese School Children
Mexico's Attorney General now has a non-removable microchip implanted in his arm to give him access to the countries crime database and track his movements. The device will be deactivated after he leaves office. I guess if someone kidnaps him now they'll be forced to cut off his arm to keep from being tracked.
In a similar move, although for different reasons, Japanese authorities in Osaka have decided to use RFID devices to tag school children. In this case, the devices will just be attached to uniforms and backpacks. I have to admit, I'd be willing to put them on my kids.
11:14 AM | Recommend This | Print This
The Value Proposition of Software Assurance
eWeek has a story relating that volume licensees are pushing back on Microsoft's Software Assurance program. When I was CIO for Utah, Microsoft pitched us on this and we refused to bite. Here was how I saw the value proposition: "We need money from you every year to keep our stock price up. We've been really clever at squeezing money out of you every year. So, let's save both of us a lot of hassle and you just agree to send a bushel basket of money to Redmond once a year." When sales tactics didn't float the deal, they accused us of not being in compliance on licenses. The choices were (a) prove you're in compliance or (b) just sign up for Software Assurance. We chose (a) and because we didn't have a good asset tracking system spent a lot of time and money conducting an audit which eventually showed that we actually had purchased more licenses than we needed. Funny, Microsoft didn't offer to buy them back. Go figure. The moral of the story: make sure your asset tracking system is up to date.