Oracle debacle in California...

[caddmannq]

Anybody get stuck with Oracle software?
No, not me.

But the state of California did: nearly a hundred million dollars worth. Which they can't/don't use.

"It's amusing, in an appalling sort of way, to watch Gov. Davis and his top aides scramble to shun responsibility for the Oracle Corp. computer software scandal. It stretches credulity to the snapping point for Davis' spinners to insist that the governor was completely unaware that his administration was signing a massive computer software deal with Oracle, especially because Oracle delivered a $25,000 campaign contribution to the governor's treasury just days after the contract was signed."


The Fresno Bee
So, does anybody actually use this stuff? Or is Oracle just something big businesses and governments buy to "trade favors"???

Well, now Governor Gray Davis claims that he never knew anything about the "Oracle deal." He wants to "get to the bottom of this." In order to investigate the matter with a clear conscience, he said he will give back the $25,000.

California Atourney General Bill Locklear said he will give back his $50,000 contribution from Oracle, so that he may also investigate without undue influence.

The sad thing is that these guys are actually fooling some people.

[Knothead]

And people wonder why politicians behave in such a convoluted manner.

"Money is the mother's milk of politics." Politicos are absolutely dependent on campaign contributions to get elected...then they have to spend their term in office sweating over whether their contributors aren't chasing Girl Scouts or selling bogus software or something else.

I doubt if Davis or Lockyear had any idea what Oracle was, or that it had been sold to California, etc. before this blew up in their faces. Now it's clean-up time...

Of course they'll make people believe it! That's what they're GOOD at!!

[caddmannq]

I doubt if Davis or Lockyear had any idea what Oracle was,

Hmmmm...you shouldn't. This is a pretty high-profile outfit, and a regular contributor of large sums to politicos.

In the business world, they're almost as well known as Microsoft.

In the political world, they were more well known than Enron.

Not that either Gray or Bill actually knows what their software does, they just know that it comes from a big, wealthy company. I think that that was enough.

And the worst part of this is not that we (the taxpayers) bought it, or that Davis & Locccklear got a kickback for buying it; but that nobody here needs or an use it. That's $95 million down the tube, plus whatever is spent to investigate, cover up, posture, publicise, politicize, etc.

[vass0922]

To give you an idea of Oracle's size, Larry Ellison (Oracle's CEO) isn't too far behind Gates in $$$ .. think Ellison is in 3rd place or something? Umm that was of course before the tech stocks took a dive

Oracle is definately big business, but they're starting to lose some ground to the little outfits like MySQL and PostGreSQL... postgresql has the stability and some of the scalability (from what I've read) of oracle.. just not the functionality of it. MySQL has SPEED.. just not as scalable (again from what I've read)
Oracle is used a lot in mission critical areas like hospitals so its big $$$ software!!
I wonder if its possible to have a BIG business... that's not corrupt?
Of course.. that'd probably be in a country where the gov't isn't corrupt
Well guess i answered my own question... NOPE LOL

Cadd - We are using Oracle8i spatial with AutoCAD and MapGuide (possibly DesignServer) for our GIS system. Oracle is actually a pretty nice system. Too bad AutoDesk can't design a product to save their lives.

-Whir

Would they have given back the money if they hadn't been caught?

Like a kid who gets caught shoplifting and tells the loss-prevention security (new term-used to be a plain old detective earlier) that "Ok, I'll give it back".

Politicians are way down there in the food chain. Self serving, power-money hungry and nothing's beneath them. Look at Gary Condit.

Shameful.

And yes, Cadd, 80% of the people believe this S@%#.

Reminds me of a similiar situation in India where village schools were suddenly given computers. From a now defunct company called Digital. Seems the state government suddenly bought these PCs for $50 million for village school children to have access to the web.

Problem is most of these villages didn't even have reliable power, if at all and no phone lines.

Several politicians were caught in shady dealings with DEC and forced to resign. But guess what? They're back after a year's worth of lying low.

Indian politicians, as a group, have the largest deposits in Swiss banks, estimated at $150 BILLION, by the Swiss. People are starving in the country and these doodes have more money than they need in a 100 generations.

Sorry for the rant but I get upset just thinking of political corruption in high places.

[caddmannq]

Well, it gets worse. Today the news announced that the $95 Million bill could easily be another $41 Million by the time they get it working. That assumes of course that it ever does work.

As for Indian politicians, Shahani: I'll see your hand and raise you 5 Californian Liberal Democrats.

As for Indian politicians, Shahani: I'll see your hand and raise you 5 Californian Liberal Democrats.

Dude, you're looking at a losing hand!!