4 ms·

Oracle is still in business despite using these type of tactics for decades.

• TheCondor 11mo ago
  Oracle is, Rambus is still around, Qualcomm appears to be quite strong. I feel for font foundries, it's hard work to make great fonts. People want great fonts. Actually paying for them is kind of an afterthought. It sort of seems like some of the big ones should put together an MPEG like group, get all the major foundaries to join and then have a couple licensing options. Some annual fee based upon your use and application and you get to use all the fonts. If it was like $120 or less for personal use, I think I'd buy the license for the family. I suspect they'll want 10x what I think is reasonable.
• donatj 11mo ago
  Sure, but is that down to these tactics or in spite of?
• tonyedgecombe 11mo ago
  It feels like enough people know about their tactics that it must hurt their adoption. Can you imagine a YCombinator startup using Oracle?
  • TheOtherHobbes 11mo ago
    The primary product of these enshitified companies is a perpetually rising stock price. Beyond a certain size it becomes more profitable to play bureaucratic, legal, financial, and other corporate games at the expense of the nominal service that's being sold. They're a bizarre economic phenomenon. They basically sell casino chips (stocks) and use bureaucracy (friction and complexity), PR (lies), and intimidation to goose their value.
  • thayne 11mo ago
    It absolutely does. I've never met anyone with a positive opinion of Oracle, and I know many companies avoid dealing with Oracle. I think this strategy only works if you have enough marketshare and vendor lock-in that customers can't easily leave and you have enough money that you can get new customers by acquiring other companies.