More insidious: Google or Microsoft?

[tw]

Originally Posted by Griff

Tell me about Oracle.

Oracle is Larry Ellison - a nasty man with characteristics similar to Steve Jobs. You need not like the man. But he (like Jobs) kept his innovators focused on the product.

Oracle makes the integrated software necessary to operate a major buisness. Its nearest competition is SAP. You don't have to like their business practices to appreciate one thing. The product (although extremely complicated) works. Is essential for many businesses to operate productively. Few other products exist that can do what Oracle does because very few companies had a man that ruthless to focus on that market.

One can argue that as Ellison aged, he mellowed. Being a top executive too long may have resulted in some less robust innovation in the past decade.