back to article Fringe box office system provider goes titsup

The software outfit behind the chaotic implementation of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe’s box office system has gone titsup. A spokeswoman at Glasgow-based Pivotal Integration Ltd confirmed to The Register that the firm has gone into administration. However, she said the company was unlikely to be issuing any further statement …

COMMENTS

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  1. Brian Miller
    Thumb Up

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

    LOL ROFL CHORTLE.

    Take that trusting clients. Sue our non-existant company after all the kerching has been embezzeled out by the fatcats on top.

    These comanies are really learning from the current Labour administration how to get there desserts.

    LOL.......

    Nice one. That made my day.

  2. david

    Wonder where this page went

    http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:0ZvH9kMPcGIJ:www.brightsolid.com/case-studies/pivotal+pivotal+integration&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=10&gl=uk&client=firefox-a

    The linked pdf is still lurking on the server though. They were eithr very unlucky or their PR dept was more adept than their developers.

  3. amanfromMars Silver badge
    Pirate

    Sure Fire Bet

    Yep ..... Sure looks like one of those Special Investment Vehicles Crashing the Capitalist System. It must be Al Qaeda ......... Morphed into Suits and Penetrated and Embedded Right to the Heart of the System.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    "get there desserts"

    this has made me so unhappy

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Well I for one know where they will be working

    I can guarantee for a fact that one of them will be working at a large financial institution that made around £600m loss in the same country. I wouldn't be surprised if the whole team made it across there for the jollies.

    Mines the one with the white collar....

  6. James
    Unhappy

    But ...

    .. Pivotal were provided with SMART and SPUR finance:

    2003-2004: £50,000

    http://www.rsascotland.gov.uk/rsa/files/smart%20spur%20offers%202003_2004%20pdf.pdf

    2004-2005: £22,000.

    http://www.rsascotland.gov.uk/rsa/files/smart%20spur%20payment%202004%202005%20pdf.pdf

    2005-2006: £102,000

    http://www.scottishbusinessgrants.gov.uk/rsa/files/smart%20spur%20offers%202005_2006%20pdf.pdf

    2006-2007: Nearly £23,000

    http://www.scottishbusinessgrants.gov.uk/rsa/files/SMART%20SPUR%20payments%202006-2007.pdf

    That's almost £200,000 or OUR money (peanuts compared to other insane government expenditure) but still.....

    So Brian the last laugh (as usual) is on the tax payer.

    David - if you go to "brightsolid"s contact form page you'll find the Pivotal Integration link still live there ! Seems they haven't disinfected their site completely yet.

    IMHO "brightsolid" also sounds like one of those trendy media "luvvie" names thought up over one too many bottles of Moet ...

  7. David Neil

    @ brian miller

    May I hazard a guess that these guys once caused you to feel mistreated in any way?

    Sometimes sitting back with a smug glow of satisfaction is better than a misspelt gloat - you tend to look like less of a tit.

    No matter what some poor sod who didn't take any decisions is out of a job, no matter what your opinion on the former management may be.

  8. amanfromMars Silver badge

    You've been a very naughty boy, MIKE MCHALE Account Manager, brightsolid?

    "IMHO "brightsolid" also sounds like one of those trendy media "luvvie" names thought up over one too many bottles of Moet ..." .... By James Posted Thursday 21st August 2008 09:26 GMT

    Whenever one reads the brightsolid Case Study. Pivotal Integration

    MARCH 2007 .... it would appear that they were offering only the Internet and dressing it up with Spin and Guff and misrepresenting themselves as is evidenced in "and I’m pleased to say, that by using our tailor-made infrastructure it was able to meet all of these.” ...... http://www.brightsolid.com/assets/files/casestudy_pivotal.pdf

    You know what they say ..... Too many bottles of Moet in, and the Wit goes out delivering Plonkers to the Champers.:-)

  9. Bruce Rowe

    This is more common than you would think

    Here's what will happen:

    1. Public announcement of an inquiry

    2. The Committee convenes and discusses matters. There is some initial acrimony and finger pointing. At this point, The Committee agrees that the public should be excluded (for its own good).

    3. The Committee agrees that they could not have been responsible. The cause of all the trouble was the vendor. The vendor gets duly castigated in public.

    4. New members join The Committee. Everyone agrees that things are going to be different.

    5. The New Committee pats themselves on the back and starts looking for a new vendor.

    I work for a software company that creates software for internet ticketing. In our 20 years of business, we have seen the same pattern many times. The people who make the decisions are usually composed of administrators, accountants, a lawyer, and someone who claims to be computer literate. Conspicuous by their absence, is anyone who has experience on the front lines.

    Here's what happens with the New Committee:

    1. The New Committee figures its budget, creates a list of requirements, and invites bids.

    2. Vendors do their presentations (the dog and pony show).

    3. The winning bid goes to the vendor that meets the following requirements:

    - a) The highest affordable price

    - b) Most attractive salespeople

    - c) Most buzzword compliant

    4. The New Committee pats themselves on the back and disbands

    5. People on the front lines wonder how they are supposed to work with such lousy tools.

    And the cycle starts again.

  10. RW
    Stop

    @ Bruce Rowe

    "The people who make the decisions are usually composed of administrators, accountants, a lawyer, and someone who claims to be computer literate."

    Once again the MBA mindset rears its ugly head and acts as though humans are fully fungible. Expertise, experience, knowledge, learning, education, insight, imagination, creativity: all these qualities are discounted in favor of status, self-proclaimed importance and nonsensical academic credentials.

    Everyone knows now that accountants, lawyers, administrators, and their ilk are far, far more important to the process of making Important Technical Decisions than mere technicians.

    How to recognize if an organization of any kind has its shit together: are the accountants kept in small cages in the basement and required to wear muzzles? Ditto for the lawyers? Did the administrators rise through the ranks or were they parachuted in from some failed venture they previously presided over?

    If you wonder why Hollywood is creatively bankrupt, why Ebay is getting out of its original line of business, why the MPAA has such hysteria over freeloaders? Why, just look at the beancounters and legal types who've taken over; are these changes any surprise under the circumstances?

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    Its come to a pretty pass ...

    When in this day and age no one can produce a simple ticketing system. That works. For next to nothing. That requires no maintainence?

    C'mon ...

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