Bob Schwier on Thu, 15 May 2003 17:11:06 -0400


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Re: [PLUG] City Lawyer: We Don't Store Data on Hard Disk


Wow.
This is one of the most amazing statements I have ever heard.
I always understood that you store on hard disk but you back up on other
media to ensure that you do not lose your world if the hard disk drops
dead.  This has been true at least since PDP-11, never mind desktops.
Desktops that did not provide hard drive support only existed in any
realistic application from the very late seventies to the early eighties,
a really very short time period by which to justify policy.
I have to wonder who the computing professionals are that the city hired.
I knew people who grew up with the machines, including a previous
supervisor who was trained by Ms. Hopper at ENIAC.  I cannot imagine them
making such a policy or statement.
bs


On Wed, 14 May 2003, Edmund Goppelt wrote:

> I wanted to thank this list for its support and advice on my Right to
> Know action against the City and bring you up-to-date on what has been
> happening in the case.  For those of you unfamiliar with the story,
> the City has been claiming in open court that they don't store their
> property database on hard disk:
> 
> http://www.hallwatch.org/rtkasuits/news/1052912044600
> 
> According to public records, the City's property database exists both
> as an Oracle 9i database as well as on the City's mainframe.  Several
> members of this list were kind enough to write affidavits rebutting
> the City's claim.  View the affidavits:
> 
> http://www.hallwatch.org/rtkasuits/suits/brt/briefs/brtaffidavits
> 
> The City lawyer, Mimi Choksi, spent a good deal of time rebutting our
> affidavits in her legal brief.  Read how she went about it here:
> 
> http://www.hallwatch.org/rtkasuits/suits/brt/briefs/choksi_response
> 
> Yesterday the Judge heard oral argument in the case.  Here are some of
> the highlights of the City lawyer's presentation:
> 
> "The reason [the two fields are] not stored on a disk is that the
> information is constantly changing; it doesn't make sense to have it
> on a hard disk."
> 
> Ms. Choksi dismissed our four affidavits as follows:
> 
> "Complete strangers can't have a better understanding than the BRT and
> its consultants. No one understands the City's computer systems better
> than the City."
> 
> Again, I'd like to thank listmembers for their advice and friendly
> criticism and extend my special thanks to those who wrote affidavits
> in support of my case.  
> 
> -- 
> 
> Ed Goppelt, webmaster@hallwatch.org
> http://www.hallwatch.org
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