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That's chic rhetoric to appeal to engineers that can see the technical value they snubbed intentionally and accidentally in a variety of acquisitions, and just

by kev009 9y ago

That's chic rhetoric to appeal to engineers that can see the technical value they snubbed intentionally and accidentally in a variety of acquisitions, and just comical to the layman as an extremest view of Ellison's galactic ego quest, but all Oracle really is is an average integration/systems engineering company with one of the best sales and delivery vehicles out in front. They are pretty much nonentities when it comes to new product development, yet they rake in jobs by doing the legwork to structure and execute the deals. I'd go as far as saying they have more in common with a consulting company like Accenture than any tech company despite a ton of marketing and a small amount of product development to try and convince the buyer otherwise. There's something to be learned here for the intended audience of this site, and it doesn't involve genocidal hyperbole. Sales and delivery are supreme.

kbenson 9y ago
While much of what you say is true, it fails to get at the extent to which they not only forego innovation, but actually remove innovation from the general market by buying the companies/patents in question and then making them exclusive to the Oracle ecosystem. It's mercenary rent seeking to a degree that isn't often seen elsewhere, and as such we all suffer for it. It's not pure capitalism, which would provide mechanisms for dealing with this, and it's not too much regulation, which could also prevent this, it's just the right amount of both that allows Oracle to play them against each other to game the system.
PeterisP 9y ago
They may have decent initial sales, but their delivery sucks; the whole point of this discussion is that there are a lot of customers who have been sold but are absolutely not satisfied with what they're getting. Also, their (re)licensing process for existing customers pretty much amounts to extortion. You better be really sure about how much it would take to rewrite your systems without Oracle, have a plan how it would be done, and advertise it to them - because as soon as they'll feel a lock-in, prepare to open the wallet for ridiculous sums for trifling things that you've been doing for years for free, but now their lawyers can find an weird interpretation where that requires extra licenses; they don't even attempt to increase the revenue by providing some extra value or service for you but simply by applying their muscle.

by kev009 9y ago

kbenson 9y ago

While much of what you say is true, it fails to get at the extent to which they not only forego innovation, but actually remove innovation from the general market by buying the companies/patents in question and then making them exclusive to the Oracle ecosystem. It's mercenary rent seeking to a degree that isn't often seen elsewhere, and as such we all suffer for it. It's not pure capitalism, which would provide mechanisms for dealing with this, and it's not too much regulation, which could also prevent this, it's just the right amount of both that allows Oracle to play them against each other to game the system.

PeterisP 9y ago

They may have decent initial sales, but their delivery sucks; the whole point of this discussion is that there are a lot of customers who have been sold but are absolutely not satisfied with what they're getting. Also, their (re)licensing process for existing customers pretty much amounts to extortion. You better be really sure about how much it would take to rewrite your systems without Oracle, have a plan how it would be done, and advertise it to them - because as soon as they'll feel a lock-in, prepare to open the wallet for ridiculous sums for trifling things that you've been doing for years for free, but now their lawyers can find an weird interpretation where that requires extra licenses; they don't even attempt to increase the revenue by providing some extra value or service for you but simply by applying their muscle.