How To FIx Healthcare.gov: Go Open-Source! 307
McGruber writes "Over at Bloomberg Businessweek, Paul Ford explains that the debacle known as healthcare.gov makes clear that it is time for the government to change the way it ships code: namely, by embracing the open source approach to software development that has revolutionized the technology industry." That seems like the only way to return maximum value to the taxpayers, too.
I'm all for it (Score:2, Informative)
I'm all for it just as long as the mandates are delayed until the infrastructure is really done this time.* When does the RFP go out?
* And maybe a "few" other kinks [chicagotribune.com] in the law ironed out.
How interesting. (Score:5, Informative)
http://torrentfreak.com/obama-administration-uses-pirated-code-on-healthcare-gov-131019/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TorrentfreakBits+%28TorrentFreak+-+Bits%29&utm_content=FaceBook
"As it turns out, the Government website uses the open source software DataTables, which is a plug-in for the jQuery Javascript library.
While using open-source software is fine, the makers of Healthcare.gov decided to blatantly remove all references to its owners or the original copyright license."
Typical National, 1.0 launch in early few weeks (Score:5, Informative)
I understand the political grandstanders on both sides using this in their latest talking points but I really expected a bit more from Slashdot. Crashing Websites, Grumbling Users: Obamacare's Debut Is a Typical Tech Launch [businessweek.com] is the most balanced and informed article I've seen written on this topic.
Basically the webs has been out for little 2-3 weeks now. It's a National rollout. And it's all on 1.0 code. Of course there will be issues. Network design is done using estimates, but scaling is done using metrics. Load-testing with a 100K concurrent user target will not help you when 200K users show up at your door.
This is all business as usual at the start of the sign-up period. Where users can also call in their applications and also fill them out in person. I'd be surprised if they couldn't mail in their applications as well.
Re:routine IT work (Score:5, Informative)
Building a web site for a hobby is very different to the approaches you need for massive scale. If you took a look at how the largest web sites scale, they all do things slightly differently, and they all had to fix their scalability problems gradually as their popularity increased. Throwing more CPU and RAM at the problem may be unable to fix anything if their current software design doesn't allow for it.
No more Billion dollar systems (Score:5, Informative)
So these companies are going to fight opensource as hard as they can seeing that it destroys all kinds of things they had going for them. Open source means that other companies can come in and scoop their contracts. Open source means that people like slashdoter and the DailyWTF will go through the code highlighting crap that came from 3rd rate 3rd world outsourced coders. Open source could even mean horror upon horrors that if good code is generated that other governments will copy it and simply modify it to their own needs.
But the worst horror is that if they charge 50 billion dollars for a few thousand lines of modifications to an existing system people like us will be willing to testify at the fraud trial.
Actually there is one worse horror: that people like us contribute free functionality, upgrades, and fixes.
Re:How about just turn it off (Score:5, Informative)
Amazing how the public dialog is now "how to fix socialized medicine" when just a short time ago it was more like "should we have socialized medicine?" Well played, Mr Obama.
Since most of the world has socialized medicine, and it works quite well, you probably will only find sympathy from US readers where it is fashionable to make a profit on other people being sick. Sounds like a great system. BTW, my aunt from the US was visiting here and fell and broke her hip. Our socialized medicine took very good care of her. Total bill to her, since she doesn't pay taxes here was $2,000, including ambulance, surgeons fees, etc.. She's resting comfortably back home in the States now.
It's funny, really, you have everybody pay a little, so your business people can fly for cheap, but ask them all to pay a little so sick people can be helped and you would think you asked them to cut off their arm or something.
Re:It failed because they went with the lowest bid (Score:5, Informative)
Management is the reason why healthcare.gov has been such as disaster. Open source or not, it wouldn't have mattered. They didn't even get to start coding until this spring, because the government was so slow in issuing specifications for the site. Then as if the tight deadlines were not enough, Administrators kept issuing changes to the site up until last few weeks of September (despite an October 1st launch date). It wasn't little a change here or there either.
One of the last big overhauls was making it so people had to register before they could browse the plans. This was apparently becasue they wanted people to see what the price would be with the subsidy. The idea being that for many people the price before the credit would scare them away from buying in.
There is also more info on this at the new york times [nytimes.com]
Re:Rearrange the deck chairs. (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, I've been involved in projects where exactly that was required. That site isn't that complicated and there's nothing new and innovative on it. If they brought in the right people and busted ass for a few weeks they could have an open source alternative built and tested. The problem here is it's government and there's no way to just make the kind of executive decisions that would be required to pull it off.
Re:routine IT work (Score:3, Informative)
Obama calls it "Obamacare." That's good enough for me to call it Obamacare.
I'd also call it "broken" and "in desperate need of repeal," but that's because I live in Massachusetts and already watched Romneycare flame out. Enjoy repeating the process, rest of the nation. It was a nice experiment here, too bad it didn't work.
Highest estimate is $300M (Score:4, Informative)
Reuters puts money spent so far at $200M, and project at $300M. Source: As Obamacare tech woes mounted, contractor payments soared [reuters.com]
You can make your point without resorting to embellishments you know.
Re: ...the ONLY bidder (Score:5, Informative)
There were 4 bidders according to Reuters [reuters.com].
Where did you get your information?
Re:I'm all for it (Score:3, Informative)
The GOP won the House, where all spending starts.
Re: Rearrange the deck chairs. (Score:2, Informative)
I'm VERY familiar with this project. There are a handful of good people from contractors and the software vendors there, including some Open Source folks, but they are trying to swim up a waterfall. "Speed, cost, quality. Pick 2" with a fixed deadline and fixed scope really means sacrifice all three.
Posted AC for obvious reasons. And posted at 2:30 am because working around the clock really means around the fucking clock.
Re:Rearrange the deck chairs. (Score:4, Informative)
This is referred to as the "get 9 women pregnant to get a baby in a month" paradigm.
It works about as well in systems development as it does in reality. . . .