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0 pointstlarkworthy5y ago0 comments

20M for the boost of Germany's worldwide status is a drop in the ocean. The money was well spent, Germany did not embarrass themselves by penny pinching. It needed to work, and it appears to. Compare this to the UK who is still flapping around.

0 comments

quonn5y ago

It doesn‘t work great. I actually run it on my phone. It has silly bugs, despite the simplicity.

Additionally, for that price you could have easily have 3 independent teams develop it and take the best one and still be cheaper and better.

I hope someone will challenge this in court. I don‘t think they can get away without a call for bids which should have been done (across Europe, as the law requires).

johannes12343215y ago

Yes it has bugs, but most bugs are from the system framework ... they could have handled those better, but the cause is often out of their control

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riffraff5y ago

I mean, if there was a public tender there's little to complain, if there wasn't then it seems right to, even if it's "a drop in the ocean".

And frankly nobody thinks "wow, Germany has a working COVID app" since almost everyone else has it too. Even Italy, amongst a ton of screw ups, has managed to produce a perfectly fine open source contact tracing app.

tlarkworthyOP5y ago

Many do not https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_apps#List_of_countrie...

US, UK, Brazil, South Africa, Mexico, Chile, Belgium, Sweden are significantly affected countries without one.

I don't expect Germany to get a wow, only abscense of negative press.

johannes12343215y ago

> And frankly nobody thinks "wow, Germany has a working COVID app"

Small exchange from the British Parliament: https://youtu.be/atAy8NGOoiw

patentatt5y ago

Yeah, I don’t get all these people criticizing the cost. Also, when a government is dealing with a flagship corporation of their country, cost is a secondary or tertiary concern anyways. It’s a subsidy in part, and it’s also just that $10m for a nation state government to get it right the first time is just so so so inexpensive. I think SAP let them off easy this time, if anything.

quonn5y ago

> It‘s a subsidy in part

An illegal subsidy. Public contracts require a bidding process, usually across Europe.

It‘s unfair that smaller companies don‘t get a chance.

I reject the idea that Germany should prop up its biggest companies, excluding what really is the backbone of the German economy (which works very differently from the US one) and also excluding our partners across all of Europe.

_Wintermute5y ago

I think the UK's decision to switch to Google and Apple's framework was actually the right decision, although it's all rather moot and a waste of money as I can't see any contact tracing app work if nobody downloads it (see France).

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

quonn5y ago

It doesn‘t work great. I actually run it on my phone. It has silly bugs, despite the simplicity.

Additionally, for that price you could have easily have 3 independent teams develop it and take the best one and still be cheaper and better.

I hope someone will challenge this in court. I don‘t think they can get away without a call for bids which should have been done (across Europe, as the law requires).

johannes12343215y ago

Yes it has bugs, but most bugs are from the system framework ... they could have handled those better, but the cause is often out of their control

1 more reply

riffraff5y ago

I mean, if there was a public tender there's little to complain, if there wasn't then it seems right to, even if it's "a drop in the ocean".

tlarkworthyOP5y ago

Many do not https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_apps#List_of_countrie...

US, UK, Brazil, South Africa, Mexico, Chile, Belgium, Sweden are significantly affected countries without one.

I don't expect Germany to get a wow, only abscense of negative press.

johannes12343215y ago

> And frankly nobody thinks "wow, Germany has a working COVID app"

Small exchange from the British Parliament: https://youtu.be/atAy8NGOoiw

patentatt5y ago

quonn5y ago

> It‘s a subsidy in part

An illegal subsidy. Public contracts require a bidding process, usually across Europe.

It‘s unfair that smaller companies don‘t get a chance.

_Wintermute5y ago

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse