Hackers Boot Camp at Puerto Rico Tech Summit

June 6, 2013, Puerto Rico Convention Center

In conjunction with the Puerto Rico Tech Summit, the Puerto Rico government is also sponsoring a programming competition.  The Hackers Boot Camp will give area developers the first opportunity to try out some of the new application programming interfaces (API) in construction within the PR government.  This is all part of a worldwide celebration of the National Day of Civic Hacking.  While the coordinated event is June 1st, Puerto Rico will celebrate it on June 6.

The CIO of the government, Giancarlos González has already mentioned a few of the types of Puerto Rico Government API data we can expect to be available during the Hackers Boot Camp, they include: property register, corporation registry, AMA routes, and fire hydrant locations (for some dog
walking app?).

Python Parranda - InstallFest

On May 11th, the Puerto Rico Python Interest Group (prPIG) is proud to announce our first ever Python Parranda.  The Parranda is part Python InstallFest and part Meetup/Sprint. It will be Saturday morning from 9am till 12pm at the Telegrafo building on Ponce de Leon, San Juan, Puerto Rico.  

The group decided that getting the Python community ready for the upcoming Puerto Rico Tech Summit. what was most important need.  The Tech Summit, 06/06/13, is sponsored by the Puerto Rican Government, and it’s CIO Giancarlos González.  The first of it’s kind, the Tech Summit is a direct outreach to the Puerto Rico software development community to participate in access to governmental data; especially the Government Hackathon being held simultaneously with the summit.  

The data being made available for the hackathon is a direct result of the MOU Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla signed on 2/28/13.  Following President Barack Obama’s lead, Governor Garcia requested every government agency to make an API within 90 days.

Note: prPIG is kindly sponsored by the Internet Society, through their Community Grant program.  We are deeply grateful for all of the support we have received so far, it has been well beyond our wildest expectations.

Don Dees IT and Business Strategy School

Good morning, class.
Good morning, class. Class? Class!?
SHUT UP!!!!!
Thank you.

As you know your regular teacher Father Dick Carrión is on a small vacation. However he does send his love, at least fingerpaintings, and dust clothes he`s making. I am your substitute teacher, Sister Mary Elephant.

Class, attention. Attention, class! Class? SHUT UP!!!!!
Thank you.

Who knew, right? Who knew when I called bullshit, so many people were listening. A couple of days ago I commented upon a recent announcement by Banco Popular and got in return, my most poplar post. For everyone who has participated, thanks.

After the suffering the slings and arrows my post caused, I can't help but respond to some of the comments made. First let me clear up a few misconceptions:

• Several of you misunderstood the point I was making when I used a three person team to illustrate how an accounting department could over-inflate the "rates" for an employees. As I mentioned in one of my responses it certainly sounded as if I were debating something with senior management, because clearly those of you who made this comment did not read carefully, a notoriously bad habit of senior executives. I clearly state that based on my calculations, if would take a team of 15 people to rack-up personnel costs of $2M. Of course some of you mentioned that legal was involved, and that certainly explains a lot. Anything involving lawyers always takes 10 times as long. Want to know how I came up with that number? Well someone show me first where BPPR came up with theirs.
  
• Ok I cede your point that the sarcastic estimates I used of the number of forms was kind of a joke, so the app had more forms. Big deal, any development shop worth it's salt would create an initial template for a form and then essentially re-use that template for n+ number of forms. The first form takes the most time and then they decrease in time required with each completed.
  
  Obviously there is no way I could know how many forms were involved, I choose to give my business to another bank, because I refuse to support the unhealthy monopoly that BPPR enjoys. So I've never seen, nor will never see this new masterpiece of Internet development. But why don't you tell us how many? Then we'll know.
• And while we are on misconceptions, I appreciate your comparison of DondeEs.com to, how was that? Oh yeah, "it's the second coming of Jesus Christ when it comes to Web 2.0 in Puerto Rico." You're much too kind to compare us to Jesus Christ, but we're not the Beatles, thank you very much.
  
  But I ask you then. If we are NOT the leading Web 2.0 company in Puerto Rico, who is? ....coqui, coqui... What web site includes more aspects of Web2.0 then ours? Here's what I claim makes us Web2.0: 1. Consumption of multiple web services integrated into one application. (the Internet is the new application development environment, don;t you know?). 2. Inclusion of user generated content (events, ability to map locations, reviews). 3. Integration of data within other web properties (Facebook). 4. Production of a relevant business blog from the company). Oh yeah, in case you're confused about what Web2.0 definition is, here is Tim O'Reilly's post on Web2.0. Oh did I mention to you that I've met Tim, Nat, Alison, Chromatic, Steve Mallet, Doc Searls, Michelle Baker, shall I go on? But I digress...)
• Before I forget, I want to thank whoever said that this smells like a first year Comp. Sci student. I know I be 'chillin' and all that, but no, that's not the case. But I am flattered to know you think I sound young. You want to know what I smell, besides your smoldering egos? I smell a lot of mid-level programmers, stuck within their own little geeky worlds who really haven't challenged themselves to learn what business is always about (profit and pleasing shareholders) or what marketing and public relations is really about (spin).
  
  Let us count the number of Facebook applications BPPR has produced? Counting this new enterprise application, that makes 0. Funny how a couple of guys can out innovate a company that can afford to invest $2 million in 1997 technology. Oh yeah and I like that whole glass house thing. Especially coming from a company which has most of their code base in Cobol and Java. I'd say you really shouldn't be talking about using cutting edge technology. In addition, if using the Google API is so simple why doesn't the BPPR corporate site use it? Microsoft MapPoint, teehee, really?

Don Dees IT and Business Strategy School

All righty then, let's start class. As I mentioned in one of my responses, I didn't really want to play the IT, Software Development, Business Strategy card, but

1. Why did the public relations department put in the $2 Million amount in the article (press release)?
   
   As a contrast, here is what one of your competitors, Citibank, released just yesterday. If you had left out the figure, think of the fun we'd be missing now, because I wouldn't have said boo.
   
   I'll tell you why the number was included, because senior management thought it sounded impressive. (I agree Luis, saw your post after I wrtoe this) For 99.9% of the people reading the paper, it was like ohh, ahh, Banco Popular is awesome. It was driven by vanity, just like when the majority of people on the island care about the brand of car they drive because it means we are supposed to think they they are more important because they drive an x. This number was used to make the company feel good about itself. "Our customers should feel better because we are spending money on them." How about not announcing stupid shit like having to increase your ATM rates because the 'ATH brand' is in jeopardy.
   
   
2. The $2 Million application is the best use of the money? Is BPPR in the banking business or the software business?
   
   There are at least a couple of ways to dissect this issue. First of all before I forget, kudos to everyone involved, I know it was a lot of hard work and now you're defending that effort. You should! You had a job to do and you did it well and now it's almost finished. Seriously, as having been on many development projects, there is nothing like launch day. But let's take a step back, before the decision came down to invest in a new system. First, was there any way BPPR could have gotten the same result for less? The uncomfortable answer is yes, they could have outsourced to developers in India. You cry foul right? But isn't that what the executive leadership of the company needs to answer? Believe me, having studied the issue it is extremely sensitve, but as was mentioned many times in the comments. This is a free market society driven by capitalism. Tell me how paying $2 million for something you could have gotten for much less is in the interest of shareholders and profitability, because that my friends is the name of the game. Put your jingo-ism aside, this is about making money not keeping employees happy. Ask any CEO and he'll say they are both important, but they won't get canned if ex-emplyees are unhappy, they will if shareholders are unhappy.
   
   What is BPPR's core business? Banking or software development? Since, and I really don't mean to offend, I'm merely observing, the best programmers in the word reside elsewhere wouldn't you, if you were in the banking business wouldn't you want them working for you? If you then factor in they can cost up to 80% less to complete the same tasks, the logic behind developing in house becomes muddy VERY quickly. Does it suck for those affected? Yes! Can it be the right business choice? Most probably, results vary.
   
   
3. Then there is the question, what was the money used for? An excellent question, wait a minute, let me check the ENDI.com article to see what it said about the figure. I quote: "A partir del 21 agusot, los usuarios de banca por internet de Banco Popular realizarán sus transacciones en linea a tráves de una nueva y rediseñada páagina web, realizada a un cost de $2millones..." So let's agree that there was not enough detail for me to gauge my guess. So I chose to focus on what it takes to build a redesigned web page, typically development.
   
   There were many comments about servers, maintenance, support, blah blah blah. I'm sorry, are you saying that this new app is so demanding that Evertec had to build a whole new control center? (BTW, including that other vanity addition to the control room, that little lead crystal windows that can be opaqued and then ta-daa look how awesome we are(. Build a whole new server room? Acquire 50 T-1's? Hire more techs to babysit the app. No, BULLSHIT, no! Come on. I've been there. As the article says, BPPR has been offering online banking for 8 years. Did they fire everyone associated with the old app and trash all of the existing back-end? Pleeeeaaaase!
   
   Let's take a minute to talk about the cost of hardware and software development. I'm going to use two examples to prove my basic point, the cost to develop (and support) applications has been trending down for a long time. In a 2004 Wired Magazine article Bill Gates was quoted as saying:

   "Ten years out, in terms of actual hardware costs you can almost think of hardware as being free -- I'm not saying it will be absolutely free -- but in terms of the power of the servers, the power of the network will not be a limiting factor."

   Sure you think little of Bill Gates, but let's compare his net worth to yours. Yeah, that's what I thought so. Let's also consider what Joe Kraus pointed out back in 2005, "It's a great time to be an entrepreneur". Joe was the founder of Excite, JotSpot, and DigitalConsumer.org, so I think he knows how to deliver on technology. All I'm trying to say about the hardware is, relative to what it used to cost and to manpower, it's dirt cheap.
   
   
4. Starting from scratch and Standard n-tier application development
   
   Several of the comments left claim the new web page was redesigned from scratch. First, the article DOES NOT say that, and even if it did I would again say BULLSHIT. Seriously, what is the business logic of starting from scratch? I'm so sure that 1) none of the back-end cobol systems were touched. You don't risk fucking up your core business for a minority of your customers. If BPPR owns 60% of banking business, and there only 1.3 million Internet users, divide that by half for families instead of individuals, and you get around 380K accounts. If BPPR has more than 2 million accounts, you're telling me that senior management is willing to risk it for less than 20% of it's customers?
   
   Since we both know that your using a lot of Java to back-end this new web application, that means you are most definitely using many of the readily available libraries, frameworks, etc for Java to support the middle end of this system. Of course we both know it doesn't hit the big-iron directly. So you're saying that you decided to build all of that "in-house" instead of using the enterprise-level software available to do application development in Java? Or that middle-ware that already existed to support the existing application?
   
   Seriously, you can try to feed that to the general public, but I know it's BULLSHIT. In fact, to support my previous point, it is the easy access to such enterprise level Java software that 1) made Java the choice of many shops, and 2) significantly reduces the cost and time to program n-tier applications in Java.
   
   Finally, another of the hallmarks of a "world-class" software development shop is code re-use. So either the previous code-base sucked so badly it had to be scrapped or your code management repository is non existent, so you were not able to re-use the complex "insert transaction" code used in the previous Internet app. Neither possibility bodes well for any of the claims made.
   
   
5. There are several comments applauding this investment as a shining example of innovation for the world to behold.
   
   Really? Really, really? There are hundreds of banks that offer this service (yes, none in PR). Specifically what is the innovation? Internet banking has been around, like we all agree for 10 years. A newly re-designed web page is not innovation. I've gone to some effort to defend my comments with facts, personal knowledge of how this works. Of course I couldn't initially put more than 2,000 words to make my point, this is the web, no one would read it. Stuff was left out to make the post short, concise, and focus on my point, not the supporting evidence. I would appreciate that within any responses to this, which I openly invite, provide facts, not generalities and innuendos. So I ask, what exactly is the "world-class" innovation that this new work demonstrates?
   
   
6. So BPPR is too good to consider building a Facebook application?
   
   I think this is indicative of one thing. A lack of understanding of Internet Marketing, circa 2008, and there for the Internet. Or were you unaware of the "EL BANCO POPULAR NOS ESTA CLAVANDO" group on Facebook? There is a serious discussion there happening and BPPR HAS to be involved, if as many of the comments indicate they are sooo concerned about their customers. Over 440K Puerto Ricans are using Facebook, that's almost half of all Puerto Rico Internet Users. I think every company that wants to engage it's Puerto Rican customers needs to go where they are, and not demand they come to you. That's what monoploies do.
   
   
7. Finally, as to what is holding back the Internet, and whether it is behind 10 years or not.
   
   First, check out this post, where I tell you what is holding the Internet back, and I totally agree that Flash sucks and contributes to the problem. And is the Internet really 10 years behind, now in this case I have to speak in generalities, we are talking the entire market here (aggregated as a whole), you can check this post and this post.
   
   Once again, I'll be the first to claim that BPPR and Evertec are the vanguard of technology on the island, however, I would not concur that that makes BPPR qualified to talk about the Internet industry or the IT industry in Puerto Rico. When we still have major companies running their business on FoxPro and MS-DOS, as was a company I was introduced to back in 2004, then as a whole, don't tell me we lag significantly behind. Puerto Rico is notoroisly late technology adopters. Check Geoffrey More's 'Crossing the Chasm' for more proof. Again if we are not 10 years behind are you claiming that we are on par? Wait for it, one last time, BULLSHIT.
   
   I'll tell you what! I challenge anyone, well besides my good friend PJ Cabrera, to a debate to see who knows more about the Internet industry in Puerto Rico. And to convince me that we are not significantly behind in Internet technology and the reasons why.
   

That concludes today's lecture. The professor will be in his office if you have any questions.

Flickr Creative Commons Contributor: Foxtongue

The technology to save Puerto Rico

They say that the pen is mightier than the sword. Or at least it might have been, one day. When so few people read anymore, the pen's ability to influence, create controversy, or change minds is drastically reduced. So, in an effort to give these words more power, more possibility, and more force, I'm going to use a VERY creative license to emphasize my point. Do I really want what I'm about to say? No. Do I want the impact that I describe within this discussion? Absolutely! Why else would I be spending my own free time to share this with you?

History

As I setup in my last discussion with you, Puerto Rico is afflicted by a culture with has very little respect for the law. Whether it is tragedies caused by breaking traffic laws, vendors with roadside pulgueros or selling bacalaitos that don't file taxes, or politicians signing contracts in order to get a kickback, none of us are too far removed from the impact of lawlessness. If we are the not the lawless, then we are their innocent victims. There is literally no aspect of Puerto Rican life that is not impacted by people for which the law holds no rule.

Regardless of your opinion of the United States, the democracy won by the Americans in the American Revolution is a beacon of freedom. While that democracy is currently under attack by right wing fanatics who want to spread their distorted flavor of freedom, it should not diminish the freedoms and rights established by the early Americans. If you've never read the Declaration of Independence, the Consitution, or the Bill of Rights I STRONGLY encourage you to do so. Never before in the history of man has a more beautiful statement of ideals been written.

While under the oppressive rule of the British, the early Americans could not decide if it was worth fighting for their independence. The tipping point in the American Revolution was "Common Sense" written by Thomas Paine. It was "Common Sense," which was self-published and distributed amongst the leaders of early America, which ultimately lead to their collective decision to fight against the British for their freedom.

Within this document, there is one phrase which could not be more appropriate to our current situation. Paine writes:

" the world may know, that so far as we approve of monarchy, that in America THE LAW IS KING. For as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free countries the law OUGHT to be King; and there ought to be no other."

Puerto Rico is now stuck in no-man's land. After suffering through over 400 years of rule by the King of Spain, we finally gained wide freedoms never before seen here when we adopted a Constitution based on that of the United States. And while we still meet the "definition" of a colony, I submit to you that the daily activities conducted in Puerto Rico are driven by the freedoms guaranteed by our Constitution. I'm not here to debate whether Puerto Rico is a free country. However, I will submit that we are not governed by a King and the United States does not govern our actions like a King. However, unfortunately we are not governed by the laws of Puerto Rico.

Again, I'm not here to debate the powers exercised by elected officials of the United States (remember they are politicians too...), but I am stating that nearly all of the laws of Puerto Rico are the laws we ourselves would choose. Whether we are a colony of the United States or not, we must have laws against murder, stealing, corruption, and laws which aim to protect our citizens, such as traffic laws, labor laws, and environmental laws.

Proposition

So while the king is not law in Puerto Rico, neither is the law king. Here, the law is more like the court jester; to be mocked, laughed at, and ignored at our whim. This must change! This has too change! How many more of our children must die due to criminals? Why are we so emotional about 60 Puerto Ricans who have died fighting in a war they voluntarily chose to join, when hundreds of our citizens die ever year at the hands of criminals? Why should even one more child die because someone ran a red light or because of a drive by shooting?

If we as a society can not rise to the rule of law, then we must return again to the rule of king; A king with the totalitarian power strong enough to strictly enforce the rule of law. If not a king, then a dictator. A dictator that would form a police force large enough to get us to respect the the law. On the feet of this police force would be the one technology to save us: boots. We need a king's police force to collectively and figuratively place the heel of their boots upon our necks until we surrender to the rule of law. Only then can we truly take our place amongst the civilized countries of a global economy. Only then would the world be willing to conduct business here. Only then could we feel the peace provided by knowing that our children were not vulnerable to the whim of criminals.

If you've made it this far, I want to once again say I don't actually believe that we need a king or a dictator. However, more than anything do I not want to sit by the phone worried sick when my teenager learns how to drive and she ventures out into the world to fend for herself. While you might think I've got nothing more to say about this, in my next post I'm going to explain what we all can do to form a society ruled by law. I'm going to do that by making a connection between the smallest of our decisions and how they create a culture where the lines between responsible behavior and crime become blurry, and how that creates a society which can not be ruled, can not be governed, and is therefore doomed to rot in a cesspool of pity, vanity, immorality, and lawlessness.

Value is in the eye of the buyer

Seth Godin has many fans. Many of those fans would agree that he is popular because he knows how to self promote. You'll get no argument from me there, in my opinion, he is the most successful self-promoter on the Internet. But, for me, Seth is most successful in identifying and debunking the little lies we surround ourselves with in the business world.

While it's not usually my style, I just can't help but reproduce his blog post entitled "No such thing as price pressure," because it cuts straight to the heart of the problem we are having with DóndeEs.com. Here's what Seth has to say about commodity pricing of your products:

"Your sales force and your customers may scream that you need to lower your price.

It's not true.

You need to increase your value. If people don't want to pay, it's because you're not delivering enough value for the money you're charging.

You're not selling a commodity unless you want to."

I think, the crucial point here is the "perception" of value. Especially when the value you are offering is intangible, or worse than intangible, technological. For when it comes to technology, nothing becomes more difficult to perceive for your customer than something they fundamentally don't understand or perceive as a necessary evil, like anything related to computers (unfortunately here in Puerto Rico it's almost always all of the above).

Flickr Creative Commons Contributor: jurvetson

Legal iPhones coming to Puerto Rico

Well sort of. While there are already a few die hard Apple minions using first generation iPhones on the island, the effort they had to go through to accomplish the feat truly shows their obedience to the cult of Steve Jobs. Recently Jobs announced his continued evil-genius plans to the world in the annual Apple World Wide Developers Conference.

As many expected, Jobs announced the second generation iPhone, complete with 3G, GPS, and a new software SDK to promote the development of iPhone applications. In addition, Jobs announced the expansion of the distribution of the iPhone to 77 countries. Unfortunately, while many anticipated Puerto Rico would be among those countries, ultimately it was not. According to AAPLinvestors, a collective of Apple, Inc. investors and traders, while Puerto Rico was originally included in the list, it was removed. While there has been several promises made that the iPhone would be sold through Claro or AT&T, for now, Puerto Ricans will not be able to buy iPhones in Puerto Rico.

But the good news is that we can now legally "use" iPhones in Puerto Rico. Like silly things like laws, rules, or restrictions have stopped us before. Am I right, mi gente? Anyway, now we can buy an iPhone in the United States, but in order for it to work in Puerto Rico without roaming fees, it must be activated with a 787 area code. I'm not sure what are the steps needed to do the activation, so once the new phones become available in July, hopefully the process to activate them in Puerto Rico will become more common knowledge.

The Apple Handheld Juggernaut rolls on...

In anticipation of the new iPhone 3G announcement, The Macintosh News Network reported that:

Apple is likely to sell 45 million iPhones by 2009, according to analysts from research firm Piper Jaffray, who raised their price target on Apple shares a whopping $20 -- from $140 to $160. "We believe Apple can sell 45 million iPhones in calendar year 2009," the analysts said. "While this may seem like a bold prediction, we believe a number in this area is not as far of a reach as some may think."