[sf-lug] S. F. politics and software policies

[jim]

           is there something about San Francisco politics that's 
        not quite fair or open? the snippet below discusses new 
        traffic management technology available only to windows-based 
        cell phones. note the S.F. schools and some other public 
        institutions seem windows-bound, not only internally, but 
        wrt public access. of course, it might be that the other 
        institutions involved have done the filtering, per below: 
        
        from
        http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-cover6-2009sep06,0,6494829.story?page=2&track=rss 
        
        [A] major effort is dubbed IntelliDrive. Funded by the federal
        government and major automobile manufacturers, and overseen by 
        the U.S. Department of Transportation, the program will begin 
        tests of a traffic warning system in San Francisco next month.
        
        Participating drivers will receive signals on their cellphones 
        alerting them to bottlenecks approximately 60 seconds ahead. 
        The phone will say, "Slow traffic ahead" through its speaker 
        phone or headset, and a message will appear on its screen.
        
        The operators of the program will use traffic information from 
        several existing sources, including Caltrans, and crunch it to 
        provide the real-time warnings. Only cellphones using... 
        
                Windows-based operating <----  systems 
        
        ...will be able to download the software to take part in the 
        test--which leaves out iPhones and BlackBerrys, among others.
        
        A video showing how it works is at
        www.intellidriveusa.org/library/videos.php 
        The ultimate goal is a dashboard warning system, fed by sensors 
        in cars and along highways, to alert drivers of potential 
        hazards all around them, including blind spots.