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Yeah, but this is Oracle we're talking about. They do evil and stupid before breakfast and short-term thinking for the rest of the day.

by HillRat 11y ago

threeseed 11y ago
Let's be grown ups here. Oracle isn't evil by any normal definition of the word. And you sure as hell don't get to $10 billion a year in profits by being stupid.
- praveenster 11y ago
  All the responses to this thread on Quora (many of whom are ex Oracle employees) seem to suggest that they are disliked: https://www.quora.com/Whats-so-bad-about-Oracle https://www.quora.com/Whats-so-bad-about-Oracle
  - sigzero 11y ago
    Disliked isn't evil. People should stop throwing around that word so easily though.
    - mistermumble 11y ago
      What they did to Peoplesoft was evil.
  - ethbro 11y ago
    ... And now I have a new baseline as to what a pissed off software engineer looks like.
  - DonHopkins 11y ago
    "You actually don't need to be open minded about Oracle. You are wasting the openness of your mind. Go be open minded about lots of other things. I mean, let's face it: it's work to be open minded, right? I mean, you've got to constantly discard data and be like "ok, I need to be open minded about this". No, with Oracle, just be close-minded. It's a lot easier. Because the thing about Oracle, and this is just amazing to me, is, you know: what makes life worth living is the fact that stereotypes aren't true, in general. It's the complexity of life. And as you know people, as you learn about things, you realize that these generalizations we have, virtually to a generalization, are false. Well except for this one, as it turns out. What you think of Oracle is even truer than you think it is. There has been no entity in human history with less complexity or nuance to it than Oracle." -Bryan M. Cantrill https://youtu.be/-zRN7XLCRhc?t=33m1s https://youtu.be/-zRN7XLCRhc?t=33m1s And later on he warns: "Do not fall into the trap of anthropomorphizing Larry Ellison!" -Bryan M. Cantrill
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- HillRat 11y ago
  I don't think you deserve a down vote for being factually correct -- though a little hyperbole ain't gonna kill you. :) But ORCL has gone from being an innovator to a rentier, and they're not averse to using hardball tactics on top of their historical position to try and stay relevant. Not using that HCM suite? Okay, but before you jump to a competitor just know that we'll increase your licensing fees if you stop using any of our products. Oracle is losing ground when it comes to new clients, but they're great at extracting every last drop of revenue from their legacy client base. Their contracting arm is most notorious for massive boondoggles (USAF's ECSS, scrapped after a billion dollars of sunk costs; Cover Oregon, which ended in recriminations, lawsuits and an FBI criminal investigation), and its software was at the epicenter of the HealthCare.gov catastrophe. Oracle could have owned cloud computing -- hell, they bought the company that reinvented the concept and instead tried to use it to force expensive hardware purchases on their expensive software customers. Now they're a minor player in a field that is steadily expanding to cover their core business sector and they're milking their cash cows furiously in an attempt to extract maximum value from a dying field. In other words, they're Blockbuster the year after Netflix debuted streaming; their model is faltering and they don't know how to replace it and still stay in business. No, they're not evil, just a nasty piece of work to do business with, and they're not stupid, but they're slowly dying. I only wish they weren't taking the last remains of Sun with them.
  - DonHopkins 11y ago
    Yeah, it's sad how they caught Sun in their web and laid their eggs in its body. I was hoping IBM would buy Sun, and give the body a decent burial.
DonHopkins 11y ago
The story I heard was that Larry Ellison was driving his sports car down 101, when a cop tried to pull him over for speeding, so he called ahead to Oracle security and had them stop the perusing cops at the security gate when they tried to follow him into the Oracle compound. Too bad the ATF and Attorney General Janet Reno didn't take charge of the situation.
- SwellJoe 11y ago
  I find that story challenging to believe. Fleeing an officer would be probable cause for an officer to enter the property to make an arrest. I can't count the number of times I saw it on Cops (when I worked at a TV station that aired the show)...someone fleeing from a minor traffic violation goes into their home, police follow and make a dramatic arrest. It's not like playing "tag"; there is no "base" that protects you from being tagged by police in pursuit.
  - marvy 11y ago
    You could try escaping to an area where they don't have jurisdiction. "Run a red light? Drive to Canada!"
    - techdragon 11y ago
      If I ever make a driving game... This will be in it. I just love the absurdity of running a red light somewhere like California, Texas or Florida, then just going "F*&( it, TO CANADA!!!!!" <sound of engine revving up as driver floors it>
    - deleted 11y ago
      [deleted]
    - aaronkrolik 11y ago
      Funny you say that! This was a problem with drug smuggling. Now they have the shiprider program [0]. Basically a Canadian patrol boat has 1 american officer on it to make arrests if it crosses a border, and vice versa. [0] http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ibet-eipf/shiprider-eng.htm http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ibet-eipf/shiprider-eng.htm

Yeah, but this is Oracle we're talking about. They do evil and stupid before breakfast and short-term thinking for the rest of the day.

by HillRat 11y ago

Yeah, but this is Oracle we're talking about. They do evil and stupid before breakfast and short-term thinking for the rest of the day.

threeseed 11y ago

Let's be grown ups here. Oracle isn't evil by any normal definition of the word. And you sure as hell don't get to $10 billion a year in profits by being stupid.

praveenster 11y ago
All the responses to this thread on Quora (many of whom are ex Oracle employees) seem to suggest that they are disliked: https://www.quora.com/Whats-so-bad-about-Oracle https://www.quora.com/Whats-so-bad-about-Oracle
- sigzero 11y ago
  Disliked isn't evil. People should stop throwing around that word so easily though.
  - mistermumble 11y ago
    What they did to Peoplesoft was evil.
- ethbro 11y ago
  ... And now I have a new baseline as to what a pissed off software engineer looks like.
- DonHopkins 11y ago
  "You actually don't need to be open minded about Oracle. You are wasting the openness of your mind. Go be open minded about lots of other things. I mean, let's face it: it's work to be open minded, right? I mean, you've got to constantly discard data and be like "ok, I need to be open minded about this". No, with Oracle, just be close-minded. It's a lot easier. Because the thing about Oracle, and this is just amazing to me, is, you know: what makes life worth living is the fact that stereotypes aren't true, in general. It's the complexity of life. And as you know people, as you learn about things, you realize that these generalizations we have, virtually to a generalization, are false. Well except for this one, as it turns out. What you think of Oracle is even truer than you think it is. There has been no entity in human history with less complexity or nuance to it than Oracle." -Bryan M. Cantrill https://youtu.be/-zRN7XLCRhc?t=33m1s https://youtu.be/-zRN7XLCRhc?t=33m1s And later on he warns: "Do not fall into the trap of anthropomorphizing Larry Ellison!" -Bryan M. Cantrill
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
HillRat 11y ago
I don't think you deserve a down vote for being factually correct -- though a little hyperbole ain't gonna kill you. :) But ORCL has gone from being an innovator to a rentier, and they're not averse to using hardball tactics on top of their historical position to try and stay relevant. Not using that HCM suite? Okay, but before you jump to a competitor just know that we'll increase your licensing fees if you stop using any of our products. Oracle is losing ground when it comes to new clients, but they're great at extracting every last drop of revenue from their legacy client base. Their contracting arm is most notorious for massive boondoggles (USAF's ECSS, scrapped after a billion dollars of sunk costs; Cover Oregon, which ended in recriminations, lawsuits and an FBI criminal investigation), and its software was at the epicenter of the HealthCare.gov catastrophe. Oracle could have owned cloud computing -- hell, they bought the company that reinvented the concept and instead tried to use it to force expensive hardware purchases on their expensive software customers. Now they're a minor player in a field that is steadily expanding to cover their core business sector and they're milking their cash cows furiously in an attempt to extract maximum value from a dying field. In other words, they're Blockbuster the year after Netflix debuted streaming; their model is faltering and they don't know how to replace it and still stay in business. No, they're not evil, just a nasty piece of work to do business with, and they're not stupid, but they're slowly dying. I only wish they weren't taking the last remains of Sun with them.
- DonHopkins 11y ago
  Yeah, it's sad how they caught Sun in their web and laid their eggs in its body. I was hoping IBM would buy Sun, and give the body a decent burial.

DonHopkins 11y ago

The story I heard was that Larry Ellison was driving his sports car down 101, when a cop tried to pull him over for speeding, so he called ahead to Oracle security and had them stop the perusing cops at the security gate when they tried to follow him into the Oracle compound. Too bad the ATF and Attorney General Janet Reno didn't take charge of the situation.

SwellJoe 11y ago
I find that story challenging to believe. Fleeing an officer would be probable cause for an officer to enter the property to make an arrest. I can't count the number of times I saw it on Cops (when I worked at a TV station that aired the show)...someone fleeing from a minor traffic violation goes into their home, police follow and make a dramatic arrest. It's not like playing "tag"; there is no "base" that protects you from being tagged by police in pursuit.
- marvy 11y ago
  You could try escaping to an area where they don't have jurisdiction. "Run a red light? Drive to Canada!"
  - techdragon 11y ago
    If I ever make a driving game... This will be in it. I just love the absurdity of running a red light somewhere like California, Texas or Florida, then just going "F*&( it, TO CANADA!!!!!" <sound of engine revving up as driver floors it>
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - aaronkrolik 11y ago
    Funny you say that! This was a problem with drug smuggling. Now they have the shiprider program [0]. Basically a Canadian patrol boat has 1 american officer on it to make arrests if it crosses a border, and vice versa. [0] http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ibet-eipf/shiprider-eng.htm http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ibet-eipf/shiprider-eng.htm