"...it's much better than what we had before, and we could not function without NMCI."
-- FCW Interview, 17 September 2004. Mr. Gordon England, Secretary of the Navy
"People forget where we were before NMCI — we've come a long way. If you measure where we are compared to where we were, you see just how far that is."
-- 22 June 2004. Mr. Gordon England, Secretary of the Navy
"That's the way it is with my own personal [America Online] account."
-- 22 June 2004. Mr. Gordon England, Secretary of the Navy, dismissing what he called a "few bugs" in the system.
Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.
"If you don't like it, leave. Because we're going to do this. Resistance to it is costing me money and costing me time, and I won't stand for it. I'll plow through or over anybody and do whatever it takes. We're not doing NMCI because it's a cute idea, but because it will provide a bridge — a road — to the efficiencies we want to achieve."
-- 24 March 2004. Adm. Michael Mullen, Vice Chief of Naval Operations
"We didn't have 100,000 apps, as the Navy did. I wish we did, because that would mean that we had the money to buy them!"
-- 23 March 2004. Brig. Gen. John Thomas, Marine Corps' CIO
"I don't know why you replace something that is free, simple and easy with something that is expensive, complicated and shackled,"
-- 15 August 2004. Unnamed Navy Captain in Government Week Magazine interview
"NMCI will come on this base over my dead body."
-- 18 Feb 2004. Anonymous Commanding General, California Marine Corps Base
Let's give the Airlines $8.8 Billion and see if they can tell the difference between Seattle and San Diego
"Thanks to NMCI for delivering my e-mail to San Diego this morning, as opposed to the airline, which delivered my luggage to Seattle last night."
-- 5 Feb 2004. Capt. Kevin Uhrich, director of the Naval Networks Division of the Navy Network Warfare Command
"NMCI is a six year-old solution to a ten year-old problem that hasn't existed for eight years."
-- Overheard an an IT conference in reference to the outdated technology supplied as part of the contract.
Someone hits the nail on the head!
"Part of the problem is standardization, which looks great if you are part of a command that hasn't had much in the way of IT resources, but looks terrible if you are with a leading-edge unit that had all sorts of toys, only to have NMCI take most of them away. One size definitely does not fit everyone, and it was a grave mistake on the part of the Navy to even pretend that it could."
-- 25 March 2004. Mr. Robert X. Cringely
