I'm Smarter Than Larry Ellison

khess 0 330 Views

The other day, I saw an article on Forbes.com named Ellison Shoots Hole in Cloud and just had to read further. I did read it. The whole thing. I was puzzled, then I laughed, and finally I was mystified by his comments. The article made me wonder just what the hell is wrong with Larry Ellison and made me compare my intellectual prowess to his.

The "Cloud" that everyone is talking about is just a bunch of servers that are usually spread out geographically but logically connected and load balanced to act as a single entity--one big server system that never goes down.
Cloud Computing allows this Cloud to host applications so that there is high availability, redundance, and a lot of computing power to serve thousands of simultaneous users. Think of it: Applications, your applications, where ever you go, whatever device you have. Yeah, bad idea--we wouldn't want that. Thanks Larry for making me realize that this sort of thing is a passing fancy--kind of like horseless carriages, aeroplanes, and that www.com nonsense.

Larry Ellison, in his finite wisdom, thinks it's a fad. Really, Larry? So when Bill Gates said that 640K of RAM is all anyone will ever need--I guess you believed it? Wow, Larry, I'm shocked at your short-sightedness. You truly have no vision of what's going on do you?
Cloud computing, grid computing, distributed computing, or whatever you want to call it, is the future--short and long term. This is how your precious Oracle database will be used in the future. Do you think that you'll lose licensing fees if this comes to pass or what? Trust me, Larry, you'll be fine.

He also says that SaaS (Software as a Service) and open source technologies were all the rage a few years ago and he hasn't seen any multi-billion dollar companies rise up out of either one. So, only if a company is a multi-billion dollar enterprise can it be successful? I wonder what someone would have said if they had looked at Oracle in that same vision in say...1981?

Is he crazy or has he just not taken his medication lately? Read the article for yourself and decide.

I'm no billionaire nor am I the CEO of an international company worth billions but I'm smarter than Larry Ellison.

Dani AI

Generated

This thread is a useful 2008 snapshot of a larger industry argument. captures the instinctive rebuttal to a CEO calling the cloud a fad, calls out the operational and business upside, and nails the one thing you must never skip: legal and compliance review. Each perspective highlights a real piece of the decision puzzle — hype, economics, and risk.

A short, practical checklist for evaluating cloud for databases (use this before any "move to cloud" memo):

  • Define measurable business outcomes: target RTO/RPO, throughput, peak concurrency, and acceptable latency.
  • Map data classification and compliance needs (HIPAA/PCI/sensitive PII) and confirm vendor controls and audit rights.
  • Contract essentials: clear SLAs, uptime credits, breach notification timelines, data ownership, and a provable exit/egress plan.
  • Licensing and cost modelling: verify how software licenses are counted in a hosted model (vCPU, cores, sockets, BYOL vs included) and model total cost of ownership, not just monthly fees.
  • Run portability and recovery tests: exported backups, restore verification, and a defined rollback path.

Technical validation that pays off: build a production-like pilot, drive peak loads, measure end-to-end latency, and test failover and full restores. Verify who patches what and where encryption keys live. Prove performance isolation under noisy-neighbor conditions and ensure monitoring/alerting integrates with your ops tools.

Treat this thread as historical context, not a final answer. The right choice matches risk appetite, regulatory needs, and operational maturity. Start with a short pilot, get procurement and counsel involved early (as advised), and use hard metrics from the pilot to decide — not slogans or personalities.

Member Avatar for Thinka
Thinka 40 Posting Whiz

Hehehe... a good read, (amidst some pretty big claims), but I definitely see where you're coming from. I also believe that cloud computing along with out-sourcing for non-IT-focused companies is "where the future's at". But I guess as with such declarations by figures in the industry whose word should be as good as gold, only time will tell if this Point of View is worth a rock on the beach.

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brucearnold 0 Newbie Poster

Cloud Computing and Corporate Culpability

Re: Cloud Computing Security Risks and Accountability for Loss of Data, Breach of Privacy and Other Violations

I am not a lawyer. I don't play one on television. And after my last divorce, I have no motivation to further enrich any member of the legal profession. Nevertheless, my first and best advice to any American business executive considering "cloud computing", "SaaS" or "PaaS" as cost-cutting solutions in recessionary times is GET THEE TO AN ATTORNEY!

Regardless of who wins the White House next Tuesday--Oblabla and the Mouth, or Geezer and Gidget--and no matter what remuda of Republocrats controls our Congress thereafter, the recently exposed excesses of Wall Street's Bonus Buccaneer CEOs guarantee increased scrutiny and accountability for executives at all levels and in all arenas, including and perhaps especially that of the CIO. In such a charged political environment, any harm, damage, loss or breach of HIPAA or other privacy mandates attributable to corporate decisions to outsource sensitive information for bottom-line benefit is likely to have repercussions that go far beyond reversing any perceived savings. And when time comes for the ax to fall in the boardroom--or worse, the gavel in the courtroom--rest assured that your cries to blame the Data Manager in Mumbai will fall on deaf ears.

Bruce Arnold, Miami Web Designer

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