Larry Ellison, Chairman, CTO and former CEO of Oracle, has had a lot to say about cloud computing over the years, a large majority of it not positive. But now, Oracle has stated that the majority of its services will be in the cloud – just a few years behind everyone else.
So to mark this occasion, CBR has compiled a list to show how Ellison’s tune has changed.
1. Anti cloud
"The interesting thing about cloud computing is that we’ve redefined cloud computing to include everything that we already do. … The computer industry is the only industry that is more fashion-driven than women’s fashion."
"Maybe I’m an idiot, but I have no idea what anyone is talking about. What is it? It’s complete gibberish. It’s insane. When is this idiocy going to stop?"
2. Anti cloud – but here’s our product
If this quote alone wasn’t good enough, Ellison then went on to say at the same conference, that Oracle would start selling cloud services.
"We’ll make cloud computing announcements because, you know, if orange is the new pink, we’ll make orange blouses. I mean, I’m not gonna fight this thing … well, maybe we’ll do an ad. Uh, I don’t understand what we would do differently in the light of cloud computing, other than market … you know, change the wording on some of our ads."
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3. It was my idea!
Despite his previous claims that cloud was ‘idiocy’, he would later go on to claim that it was actually his idea.
"I started NetSuite. NetSuite was my idea. I called up Evan Goldberg and said, ‘We’re going to do ERP on the Internet, software-as-a-service.’ Six months later Marc Benioff, finding out what NetSuite was doing, and kind of copied it."
4. Cloud’s great.
At the launch of Oracle cloud, Ellison would even state that he now likes the name.
"I like the words [cloud computing]. It’s a charismatic brand. And people do need to simplify their existing data centers and deliver services in simpler ways."
5. We run everything important in cloud.
And in 2014, Ellison is eager to state that Oracle is bossing the cloud service market, while also having a dig at SAP.
"Virtually every important cloud service on the planet earth runs on the Oracle database."
"There’s only one that doesn’t – it’s Workday."
"Salesforce runs on Oracle. SAP Hana powers the cloud? I’m going to try and be nice, but it’s so hard."
"Whose cloud are they talking about? I have no idea what runs and how, but it ain’t their cloud – it runs on Oracle."
"It’s rude, but it’s the truth. It’s kind of funny."
