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Oracle Sues 5 Oregon Officials For 'Improper Influence'
SpzToid writes: Following up on an earlier Slashdot story, the Oracle Corporation has filed a rather timely suit against five of former governor John Kitzhaber's staff for their "improper influence" in the decision to shutter the Cover Oregon healthcare website, while blaming Oracle to defuse the political consequences. Oracle argues the website was ready to go before the state decided to switch to the federal exchange in April.
"The work on the exchange was complete by February 2014, but going live with the website and providing a means for all Oregonians to sign up for health insurance coverage didn't match the former-Governor's re-election strategy to 'go after' Oracle," Oracle spokeswoman Deborah Hellinger said in a statement.
Kitzhaber resigned last week amid criminal probes into an influence-peddling scandal involving allegations that his fiancée used her position in his office for personal gain.
"The work on the exchange was complete by February 2014, but going live with the website and providing a means for all Oregonians to sign up for health insurance coverage didn't match the former-Governor's re-election strategy to 'go after' Oracle," Oracle spokeswoman Deborah Hellinger said in a statement.
Kitzhaber resigned last week amid criminal probes into an influence-peddling scandal involving allegations that his fiancée used her position in his office for personal gain.
Discuss.
I intended to write you as soon as I came back from Green River, to
tell you of a girl I saw there; but there was a heap to do and I kept
putting it off. I have described the desert so often that I am afraid
I will tire you, so I will leave that out and tell you that we arrived
in town rather late. The help at the hotel were having their supper in
the regular dining-room, as all the guests were out. They cheerfully
left their own meal to place ours on the table.
One of them interested me especially. She was a small person; I
couldn't decide whether she was a child or a woman. I kept thinking
her homely, and then when she spoke I forgot everything but the music
of her voice,--it was so restful, so rich and mellow in tone, and she
seemed so small for such a splendid voice. Somehow I kept expecting
her to squeak like a mouse, but every word she spoke charmed me.
Before the meal was over it came out that she was the dish-washer. All
the rest of the help had finished their work for the day, but she, of
course, had to wash what dishes we had been using.
The rest went their ways; and as our own tardiness had belated her, I
offered to help her to carry out the dishes. It was the work of only a
moment to dry them, so I did that. She was so small that she had to
stand on a box in order to be comfortable while she washed the cups
and plates.
"The sink and drain-board were made for real folks. I have to use this
box to stand on, or else the water runs back down my sleeves," she
told me.
My room was upstairs; she helped me up with the children. She said her
name was Connie Willis, that she was the only one of her "ma's first
man's" children; but ma married again after pa died and there were a
lot of the second batch. When the mother died she left a baby only a
few hours old. As Connie was older than the other children she took
charge of the household and of the tiny little baby.
I just wish you could have seen her face light up when she spoke of
little Lennie.
"Lennie is eight years old now, and she is just as smart as the
smartest and as pretty as a doll. All the Ford children are pretty,
and smart, too. I am the only homely child ma had. It would do you
good just to look at any of the rest, 'specially Lennie."
It certainly did me good to listen to Connie,--her brave patience was
so inspiring. As long as I was in town she came every day when her
work was finished to talk to me about Lennie. For herself she had no
ambition. Her clothes were clean, but they were odds and ends that had
served their day for other possessors; her shoes were not mates, and
one was larger than the other. She said: "I thought it was a streak
of luck when I found the cook always wore out her right shoe first
and the dining-room girl the left, because, you see, I could have
their old ones and that would save two dollars toward what I am saving
up for. But it wasn't so very lucky after all except for the fun,
because the cook wears low heels and has a much larger foot than the
dining-room girl, who wears high heels. But I chopped the long heel
off with the cleaver, and these shoes have saved me enough to buy
Lennie a pair of patent-leather slippers to wear on the Fourth of
July."
I thought that a foolish ambition, but succeeding conversations made
me ashamed of the thought.
Can we now sue corporations for influencing the political process with lobbying.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
At least there's a chance North Korea's position would have a shred of truth to it.
This is snooze news
Oracle was getting sued for taking Oregon's money, and not having the exchange be fully functional when it was required in 2013. Oregon had to process all apps by hand or over the phone, because the website wasn't functional.
That sounds like a reason to can Oracle in favor of another option. Oracle defrauded and scammed Oregon, selling us a faulty product.
obamasweapon.com
I read TFA and I still am confused about what Oracle is alleging, exactly. Can a lawyer or someone who understands it better explain it? Is Oracle claiming libel or something? I'm honestly sympathetic to the nature of complaint, but don't understand what leverage they have legally--what is their legal argument?
The Democratic governor appointed a group to manage the user acceptance testing
The state approved the site. I've been involved with nearly fifty software projects for local or state governments, and UAT (user acceptance testing) is what makes the process work. You build the software to their specs, and they sign-off on it. Without that process, you simply can't make software for a government entity, or nearly any customer for that matter. The Democrats in Oregon signed off on the software that they wrote the requirements and specifications and tests for. If the software was defective, then they are responsible. That is why this well established system was established. From my last contract with the state of CA:
"User acceptance testing is a process that obtains confirmation that a system meets mutually agreed-upon requirements."
Anyone involved with software for hire should be able to understand his.
(I am a software developer)
I recently helped my parents to file for Health insurance using Maryland Health Exchange website. What a clusterfuck !!!!!!!! Website used Oracle + Java.
1. Non-intuitive website, cryptic. Looked as it time traveled from 90s.
2. Gave parsing error (page filled with Java Exceptions with line numbers !!!!!!, in other words, site was compiled in debug mode !!!!!!!) when entered information which had spaces at the end, like social security with space at the end.
3. Made a typo in SSN or any other personal info ? Shit, touch luck ! There is no way to go back and edit personal info after you have filled information about household members. You need to call support line.
4. My brother and father share same first name. So, system added my brother as son, and head of household, making household of 4 people, instead of 3 people. Called support line. I was told that it is alright !!!!! "At the backed, they will fix it"(actual quote). Well, insurance cost was be calculated based on number of household members, making it significantly more expensive.
5. Forgot password and tried 3 times to log in ? Site locks you out, you call support and they will give you temp password that might not work !!! (this is what I was actually told). Temp password did not work !!!!!! You have to wait 24 hours, call them once again, and they will give you new password that might/might not work !!!
Recently, someone exceptional shadotter left great comment about US patent office, let me paraphrase it. "If the Oracle worked on this (patent office approves), they should be lit on fire, dipped in shit, shot and then fired."
"Website used Oracle + Java". If the website had used Linux, would you blame Linus. Oracle makes many tools. How you use it, is on you. If you can find a bug in java and oracle that affected the site, it is a different story.
>3. Made a typo in SSN or any other personal info ? Shit, touch luck !
Touch luck indeed!
According to this talk
http://blogs.technet.com/b/cdn...
By Steve McConnell who presumably has no skin in the game, Oregon's website was extremely poorly managed. Including using bad coding practices, staff that didn't have proper training and several other problems. McConnell just wonders how anybody could think that the project could work in the first place.
(the talk is very interesting by the way)
So if McConnell is correct in his appraisal of the situation, Oracle is just trying to get itself out of a lawsuit for a grand screw up caused by their own poor judgement.
That is why they attack you and modrated you donw to a -2 Thah eyhate asdoivy. lbjkty6ylasdfgklnhu ijkk sayfhoiyhsdalkfhkusyr. They want you to die. That is the way of Republian. you tell the teuth .] The Repo7ublivan want us to die! die! die! you are spo right ut the ru;er hers her atate you .
That argument works right up until the point you find Oracle was involved in the sites creation.
All production Java applications are compiled in debug mode. This way the problems can be properly debugged. Some application frameworks even require debug compilation to be able to do their runtime AOP.
That said: it is incompetence to show stack traces or other confusing errors to users. They are supposed to go to a log file.
That said: Some people are always incompetent, but after weeks of overtime, everyone will be incompetent.
You know that's a sign of insanity, right? Because everyone on /. knows you're a nutcase.
If any Oregon state gov IT people read this, I offer my sincere condolences to you for having Alex Pettit as your "Chief Information Officer".
He spent a few years where I work in Oklahoma and completely and totally ruined what was once a great productive IT organization.
I predict he will do that same to you, he will propose a new organizational "consolidation' plan that on paper appears to save the state millions, it will pass and once passed Pettit will leave before it's actually implemented. He will be happy with another good looking 'resume stuffer" on his resume but leaving behind a complete mess. He doesn't care, he will be gone. Here in Oklahoma he has been gone about two years or so and the administration is just now realizing the unworkable mess he created.
pretty sure your post was compiled in !-o-matic mode.
He is talking about Maryland Health Exchange, where does it say Oracle was involved?
Not really. Many production java apps are not debug compiled. I have worked on many of them. It is possible to use non-debug stacktrace to match the lines in the code.
It has been my experience that idiots who can't remember their password tend to also have a difficult time using and navigating ANY website. Most of the times the system is the problem. In this instance I think it's you.
Health industry is always an issue in political games since Obamacare has been launched. To my mind, we need to calm down and stop gallopping around the healthcare "sensations of the day". What ordinary people should remember - what "the nation" should take into account - of all the political issues is the benefit we get. Much easier insurance - yes, more jobs in the medical field - yes, indeed. This is really important, as medical career is a choice for very devoted people, it should provide respectable opportunities, serious ones. Now you can start your career as entry level medician http://entrylevelmedical.com/ with a further growth and improvement. Isn't that good for people? Isn't that good for any of us, not just doctors and poor people? I think, it certainly is. So let's hope for better and get less involved in political issues.