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I could go on for hours about the myriad ways Oracle keeps shooting themselves in the foot with amazingly short sighted policies. However, Larry Ellison is han

by modoc 11y ago

I could go on for hours about the myriad ways Oracle keeps shooting themselves in the foot with amazingly short sighted policies. However, Larry Ellison is hanging out on a yacht many times larger than any house I'll ever own, so really I guess they aren't that dumb....

scrollaway 11y ago
> However, Larry Ellison is hanging out on a yacht many times larger than any house I'll ever own, so really I guess they aren't that dumb.... If the CEO's money is a metric in measuring this, maybe. But maybe that's also what's wrong with that attitude. Contrived example: "Yes, the guy did rape and murder 7 little girls, but he's also taking champagne baths in a tub larger than the city I live in, so he has to be doing something right".
- modoc 11y ago
  I guess my point is that I can arm-chair quarterback all I want, but their business doesn't seem to end up hurt by their tactics (which look self-destructive to me), so perhaps my view is not 100% accurate.
  - scrollaway 11y ago
    And my point is that you can make more money than god and still be evil and your existence be a net negative on the world. I don't think we should judge them by the money they make.
    - modoc 11y ago
      I guess we're talking cross-purpose. I'm not trying to say Oracle is "good" or "evil" or weigh in on their moral value to the world. I'm just pointing out that business decisions they make, that seem to be illogical or self-harming, never appear to actually harm their overall business long term.
    - rayiner 11y ago
      Oracle has had a really fundamental impact on databases, being one of the first relational DBs and the first one in widespread use. I think it'd take a lot more than suing Google over Android to make Elison a "net negative" to the world. It's like Google Seach. Google could launch a bullshit patent war against Facebook to help Google+, but the negative effect of that wouldn't outweigh the positive contribution of Google Search. I note this not to defend Oracle so much as point out that the history of computing is long and a lot of important stuff happened before this latest Android/Twitter/Facebook era.
- krisgenre 11y ago
  I think the point was that he earned his money with the business he's doing. In your analogy, the person did not earn by raping, they are two different things.
  - pas 11y ago
    There are unethical business practices too. Sure, maybe every decision Larry/Oracle every did was legal, they are still in the business of vendor lock-in based extortion aided by their reputation as the transaction processing vendor. Because early on they teamed up. A great salesman with a brilliant software engineer guy.
- FilterSweep 11y ago
  Your example is spot-on, but unfortunately that is the way America works in 2015. :ED: to clarify, they are not held to the same accountability standard as we are.

by modoc 11y ago

scrollaway 11y ago

> However, Larry Ellison is hanging out on a yacht many times larger than any house I'll ever own, so really I guess they aren't that dumb.... If the CEO's money is a metric in measuring this, maybe. But maybe that's also what's wrong with that attitude. Contrived example: "Yes, the guy did rape and murder 7 little girls, but he's also taking champagne baths in a tub larger than the city I live in, so he has to be doing something right".

modoc 11y ago
I guess my point is that I can arm-chair quarterback all I want, but their business doesn't seem to end up hurt by their tactics (which look self-destructive to me), so perhaps my view is not 100% accurate.
- scrollaway 11y ago
  And my point is that you can make more money than god and still be evil and your existence be a net negative on the world. I don't think we should judge them by the money they make.
  - modoc 11y ago
    I guess we're talking cross-purpose. I'm not trying to say Oracle is "good" or "evil" or weigh in on their moral value to the world. I'm just pointing out that business decisions they make, that seem to be illogical or self-harming, never appear to actually harm their overall business long term.
  - rayiner 11y ago
    Oracle has had a really fundamental impact on databases, being one of the first relational DBs and the first one in widespread use. I think it'd take a lot more than suing Google over Android to make Elison a "net negative" to the world. It's like Google Seach. Google could launch a bullshit patent war against Facebook to help Google+, but the negative effect of that wouldn't outweigh the positive contribution of Google Search. I note this not to defend Oracle so much as point out that the history of computing is long and a lot of important stuff happened before this latest Android/Twitter/Facebook era.
krisgenre 11y ago
I think the point was that he earned his money with the business he's doing. In your analogy, the person did not earn by raping, they are two different things.
- pas 11y ago
  There are unethical business practices too. Sure, maybe every decision Larry/Oracle every did was legal, they are still in the business of vendor lock-in based extortion aided by their reputation as the transaction processing vendor. Because early on they teamed up. A great salesman with a brilliant software engineer guy.
FilterSweep 11y ago
Your example is spot-on, but unfortunately that is the way America works in 2015. :ED: to clarify, they are not held to the same accountability standard as we are.