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The Oracle OpenWorld Keynote was the worst ever
- alecco 16y agohttp://www.zdnet.com/blog/howlett/oracle-open-world-keynote-sets-a-dull-tone/2451 http://www.zdnet.com/blog/howlett/oracle-open-world-keynote-...
- chrisbolt 16y agoTwenty minutes in and I was gone. She might as well have recorded it and the beamed it out to the audience. Doesn't anyone proofread anymore?
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- tragiclos 16y agoAm I the only one that thinks these industry conferences are a complete waste of time and money? They seem like more of a boring vacation than an actual opportunity for education and networking.
- thisisfmu 16y agoThink of them as instruments for cubicle dwellers to be left out of their cages occasionally, to maintain their illusion of freedom.
- rbanffy 16y agoI could never grasp the logic of paying employees to watch a couple days of informercials? It's like when company B names an employee E of company A a "most valuable professional". If employee E is "most valuable" to B, there is something very wrong with whatever E does in A.
- mahmud 16y agoAwww, that's some broken logic :-P In practice, company A and company B are not in direct competition, at least not in the position Employee E is in: one of them consumes the technologies developed by the other. The underlying currency in this love triangle is not the employee himself, but KNOWLEDGE. Knowledge of a certain technology. Company A makes technology which it sells for $. Company B uses that technology to develop products and services to sell for $. Employee E learns to apply the technology and hires his time and expertise for $. Since both A and B make money from the technology, it's in their best interest to make sure the workforce is well qualified, so who better to certify and bestow titles of MVP at E than A?
- rbanffy 16y ago> Awww, that's some broken logic :-P Not really. After being exposed to days of propaganda, those employees may recommend products based on what no longer can be described as their best judgment. Unless A is a reseller of B, I see no circumstance where E being MVP of B is not an explicit conflict of interest. More likely, A uses products from B and E's judgment, being an MVP of B, will tend towards B's products even if company C's products are a better fit. Sending E to B-sponsored events further distorts E's judgment.
- mahmud 16y agoI see your point, but keep in mind that it's the B-type companies that go out of their way recruiting "MVP" type labor because they have already invested heavily in the technology, and/or because they believe it will give them a competitive edge. By the time the MVP is hired the company has already sold into the technology; his employment does not jeopardize anything, and there is no conflict of interest. If anything, his title and role merely reinforce their chosen technical ideology. It's the higher ranking officials and the C-suite that wine and dine with the vendor that you should worry about. Not the two-cent knowledge worker with the glorified MCSE certification.
- rbanffy 16y ago
- CaptainZapp 16y agoIt depends. I've been to a number of Sybase conferences, which where really beneficial. The difference to Oracle is that they actually discourage marketing fluff (there's a business track where it's allowed, but for the technical tracks it's definitely not welcome). I received some great trainings there, not covered by the standard curiculum. For example Replication Server internals and - trouble shooting. I have once attended an Oracle World and that was a total waste of time, save for the presentation of an indipendent Oracle consultant. I can't speak for other vendors and imagine that the quality of such conferences differ a lot. Oh, and the keynote is actually always a waste of time.
- ams6110 16y agoLately it seems so. I don't go to a lot of these, so my sample error may be high; it seems that most of the speakers at these shows are there primarily to promote their company/product, or their new book. In other words, they are marketing events, and yet attendees are paying for admittance.
- protomyth 16y agoStuff like WWDC seem pretty useful given the labs and actual engineers from Apple. The technical lectures are pretty helpful and worth watching again on iTunes.
- joe_the_user 16y agoWow, Eery thing about the scene this article sketches is that these are the winners of the last thirty years' corporate shoot-out. In the manner of a usurping monarch or Stalinist dictator, it seems that "uneasy lies the head that wears the crown"...
- jaekwon 16y agoEllison's beef with salesforce makes Zuckerburg seem much much more mature. But yes, I think it has something to do with having long lived ultimate power. It messes up your compass.
- rbanffy 16y agoBeing surrounded by yes-men for too long is a professional hazard CEOs must deal with. It's clear both Larry (and to Mark) haven't been exposed to the word "no" for a very long time.
- mhd 16y agoIf someone would've told me 15 years ago that Bill Gates would turn out to be the sane one…
- rbanffy 16y agoI would call Gates a borderline sociopath. You really should watch his deposition tapes, where he shamelessly says he has no recollection of e-mails he sent. Larry may or may not be one, but saying Gates is "the sane one" is a symptom of wrong Kool-Aid intoxication.
- Estragon 16y agoAnyone got a link to Larry's keynote?
- 10ren 16y agoJust for some market cap context: AAPL Apple Inc. 251.57B MSFT Microsoft Corporation 218.24B IBM Intl. Business Machine... 164.21B GOOG Google Inc. 156.21B ORCL Oracle Corporation 138.24B <---- HPQ Hewlett-Packard Company 88.76B SAP SAP AG (ADR) 57.22B DELL Dell Inc. 24.21B CA CA, Inc. 10.55B NOVL Novell, Inc. 2.15B PRGS Progress Software Corp. 1.25B http://www.google.com/finance?client=ob&q=NASDAQ:ORCL http://www.google.com/finance?client=ob&q=NASDAQ:ORCL
- rbanffy 16y agoMarket cap has no bearing on whether the keynote was or not horrible. But, come on, what did the writer expect at an Oracle conference?
- bad_user 16y agoThe SUN keynotes were more interesting, I guess he expected that the merger would have some effect on Oracle's culture.
- rbanffy 16y agoScott McNeally was an endless source of fun. He should start a new company solely dedicated to make fun of Microsoft.
- 10ren 16y agoA keynote can only be assessed with respect to a value system. It's impossible to understand or influence someone without knowing their value system.
- rbanffy 16y agoSo, if the company valuation is good, the keynote will be good. I fail to see any possible correlation.
- 16y ago