Paul Ford: Open-Source Everything: The Moral of the Healthcare.gov Debacle: Noted
Paul Ford: Open-Source Everything: The Moral of the Healthcare.gov Debacle:
Healthcare.gov isn’t just a website; it’s more like a platform…. Visiting the site is like visiting a restaurant…. The kitchen is the back end, with all the databases and services. The contractor most responsible for the back end is CGI Federal. Apparently it’s this company’s part of the system that’s burning up under the load of thousands of simultaneous users. But it’s not just that the kitchen’s on fire. The alarm system doesn’t work either. The waiters can’t hear the screams of the cooks. It’s hard for outsiders to tell exactly what’s going on, because CGI Federal’s code is locked away out of sight, and the company hasn’t replied to press inquiries (including those from Bloomberg Businessweek). You can’t get a waiter’s attention to save your life…. Put charitably, the rollout of healthcare.gov has been a mess…