Directgov is dead part 2

Time for a one-last, one-last post as Directgov is migrated to gov.uk. My prediction that gov.uk would fail to replace it by August 2012 in Absolute control: why Betagov will fail sort of came true, although it's mid-October 2012 so that seems somewhat churlish. Today I'm enjoying the post The emperor's new clothes and am looking to pick up some other perspectives:

Perhaps the departments will rebel, or the sponsors will move on, or delivery will be undermined by some cockups, or the team will tire of bureaucracy once they move into the transaction domain.

Well put. When Martha Lane Fox's warriors leave the citadel, they'll discover the real public sector world of organisations like Gubbins: labrinthine regulations, dreary call centres, moving targets, absense of digital strategy and, yes, resistance from people who work in customer contact like me. Come to think of it, have I changed my own point of view since I started writing this?

Anyway, as the original orange monstrosity is now offline, I have to applaud GDS for following through. Try to find that £1 billion in savings now, won't you?