California to Cancel Oracle Deal

ShaunC writes "Back in mid-April, the state of California bought $95M worth of Oracle software, which turned out to include more licenses than the state has employees, at a taxpayer cost of $41M more than necessary. Now, CNet is reporting that the contract is being cancelled. Oracle apparently made a $25K donation to governor Gray Davis' campaign fund after the sale was made, several state officials have been suspended, and a criminal investigation into the deal is already underway."

Comments

Re:the donation is not a smoking gun

[Rogerborg]

• If anyone really thinks that a $25k donation would have anything to do with a $95,000,000.00 deal for software, they need to get reacquainted with reality [...]It's a Red Herring, and doesn't belong in an informed discussion on the Oracle/California mess

Nice to hear from someone informed. Inform us then, how much did Oracle donate the the Republican candidate in California? And to every candidate in every other state? $25K each?

What's that you say? You don't know? Or are you just saying that it's not only right but expected for companies to give small "thank you" kickbacks after being given a lot of business?

I hope you're just uninformed and not actually idiotic enough to be saying the latter. Because $25K for $95M might not sound like a lot, but how many billions are in the Californian budget? How quickly could a bunch of $25K kickbacks add up? Go inform yourself, and let us know, will you?