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<p>Deal to buy Oracle software in bulk was likely unnecessary, audit says.</p> <p>SACRAMENTO -- An unprecedented $122.6 million state computer contract with Oracle Corp. - approved without competitive bidding and touted as a major cost saver - could wind up costing taxpayers tens of millions of dollars, the state auditor said Tuesday.</p>

SACRAMENTO, Calif., April 17 — A potentially illegal deal between Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ:ORCL) and California could cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars for software that few state employees need or want, the state auditor said Wednesday. In a highly critical review, a state audit questioned why officials in three state agencies went ahead with the $122.6 million no-bid deal last May when a survey indicated few state workers had interest in using the database software. "We didn't know if there was a need and we committed millions of dollars to this contract," said State Auditor Elaine Howle told Reuters....

Microsoft, DOJ seek to close the deal By Joe WilcoxNews.com March 6, 2002 nbsp; WASHINGTON--The U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday conceded that it settled with Microsoft in part because trustbusters failed to prove part of the basic theory of the antitrust case. In his presentation before U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, Justice Department lead attorney Philip Beck said that Microsoft was able to hold on to a monopoly in Intel-based operating systems only through anti-competitive acts. But the government was not in a position to make that argument stick, he said. quot;We tried very hard the first time around,...