
The Oracle OpenWorld Keynote was the worst ever - primesuspect
http://rootwyrm.us.to/2010/09/oracle-openworld-keynote-worst-keynotes-evar/
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tragiclos
Am 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.

~~~
rbanffy
I 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.

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mahmud
Awww, 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?

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rbanffy
> 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.

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mahmud
I 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.

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rbanffy
> It's the higher ranking officials and the C-suite that wine and dine with
> the vendor that you should worry about.

About a year ago, a company I know of, but ought to remain nameless, outed a
CTO who did too much wining and dining (and traveling) with one hardware
vendor. It was a violation of the very strict code of conduct every employee
has to sign when hired.

Their current CTO is a tech guy no vendor will be able to bullshit into a bad
idea.

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alecco
[http://www.zdnet.com/blog/howlett/oracle-open-world-
keynote-...](http://www.zdnet.com/blog/howlett/oracle-open-world-keynote-sets-
a-dull-tone/2451)

~~~
chrisbolt
_Twenty 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?

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10ren
Just 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
Market 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
The SUN keynotes were more interesting, I guess he expected that the merger
would have some effect on Oracle's culture.

~~~
rbanffy
Scott McNeally was an endless source of fun. He should start a new company
solely dedicated to make fun of Microsoft.

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joe_the_user
Wow,

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"...

~~~
mhd
If someone would've told me 15 years ago that Bill Gates would turn out to be
the sane one…

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rbanffy
I 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.

~~~
mhd
I think the last MS kool-aid I bought was the copy of DOS 5.0, and back then I
didn't know better.

I'm a bit suspicious about the "CEO == sociopath" meme. Never attribute to
malice what can be explained by stupidity, and never attribute to insanity
what can be explained by malice. Lying to cover yourself certainly doesn't
come close to my definition of insanity…

My point is just that at least Gates seems to have made an exit, and came out
somewhat well-adjusted. Maybe the billionaires form of survivor's guilt or
seeking repentance comes into play, too.

Ellison is from the same tribe (and time) of monopolist software companies,
and doesn't seem to be able to let go. And if I remember correctly, he's older
than Gates, too.

~~~
rbanffy
> never attribute to insanity what can be explained by malice.

That's the point. Sociopaths are not insane: they are evil. They are smart and
know what they are doing and what the consequences will be. They just don't
care as long as they can get away with it and will do whatever it takes to get
away with it. In their minds, they have a right to do it.

I am not sure about Ellison. He comes through as slightly more balanced than
Gates=. But only slightly.

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Estragon
Anyone got a link to Larry's keynote?

