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Why I Quit Oracle (2010)

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Re: Why I Quit Oracle (2010)

#21

Post by sanguy »

I knew Gosling when he resided in Calgary. A very bright guy but he was also extremely possessive of Java. Even during the Sun days it was clear it was his baby, and nobody else’s.

I can imagine him being very frustrated at oracle and google where motivations are different enough to not cause his ego to be fed.

And as much of a scourge Oracle is they have moved java forward much fast and further versus Sun. All with gosling being sidelined. Perhaps that is part of his motivation for this article. Someone raised his baby better than he could.

Re: Why I Quit Oracle (2010)

#22

Post by altotrees »

sanguy wrote: post #21

I knew Gosling when he resided in Calgary. A very bright guy but he was also extremely possessive of Java. Even during the Sun days it was clear it was his baby, and nobody else’s. I can imagine him being very frustrated at oracle and google where motivations are different enough to not cause his ego to be fed. And as much of a scourge Oracle is they have moved java forward much fast and further versus Sun. All with…

To the point about his ego not being fed at Google: when he went there, I wondered what he would be working on and if being another name on a roster if insanely talented engineers and scientists(Norvig, Pike, on and on and on)would help him grow and create more great things, or prove a frustration in some way. What was he working on there, I haven't read many details, does anyone know?

Re: Why I Quit Oracle (2010)

#23

Post by geofft »

saghm wrote: post #13
smegel wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Oracle routinely sues its own employees. For what?

For winning arbitration (the company-mandated way to solve disputes) against them, for instance: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/01/26/oracle_sues_employe...

Oh wow, and then they lost that petition in court. https://regmedia.co.uk/2017/08/22/oracle_wilson_decision.pdf

I can't imagine this was a good use of the company's lawyers' time (although it was probably good from the lawyers' perspective).

Re: Why I Quit Oracle (2010)

#24

Post by scintill76 »

bitL wrote: post #14
bluedino wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wasn't McNealy on the Sun company ice hockey team back in the old days? It sounded like an incredible place to work back then

Yeah, SUN was cool back in the day before it moved to the "cursed" Santa Clara building. Interestingly, their original office is now occupied by Facebook (1 Hacker Way) and there is still sign of SUN in front of Facebook - unofficially to remind Facebook it shouldn't stop innovating.

Nice story about the sign; here's more and pictures: http://www.businessinsider.com/why-suns-logo-is-on-the-back-...

Re: Why I Quit Oracle (2010)

#25

Post by nappy-doo »

altotrees wrote: post #22
sanguy wrote: post #21

I knew Gosling when he resided in Calgary. A very bright guy but he was also extremely possessive of Java. Even during the Sun days it was clear it was his baby, and nobody else’s. I can imagine him being very frustrated at oracle and google where motivations are different enough to not cause his ego to be fed. And as much of a scourge Oracle is they have moved java forward much fast and further versus Sun. All with…

To the point about his ego not being fed at Google: when he went there, I wondered what he would be working on and if being another name on a roster if insanely talented engineers and scientists(Norvig, Pike, on and on and on)would help him grow and create more great things, or prove a frustration in some way. What was he working on there, I haven't read many details, does anyone know?

I worked at Google while he was there. It was common knowledge that he did about nothing while there. He wrote a document detailing why Google's development practices were broken, and left in under a (if I remember) year. Again, if I remember, he filed no bugs, committed no code, and wrote no design documents.

Re: Why I Quit Oracle (2010)

#26

Post by lobster_johnson »

bitL wrote: post #14
bluedino wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wasn't McNealy on the Sun company ice hockey team back in the old days? It sounded like an incredible place to work back then

Yeah, SUN was cool back in the day before it moved to the "cursed" Santa Clara building. Interestingly, their original office is now occupied by Facebook (1 Hacker Way) and there is still sign of SUN in front of Facebook - unofficially to remind Facebook it shouldn't stop innovating.

What do you mean by "cursed"?

Re: Why I Quit Oracle (2010)

#27

Post by quuquuquu »

jessaustin wrote: post #18
smegel wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Oracle routinely sues its own employees. For what?

For posting the dirty laundry anonymously on HN?

>anonymously

With enough effort, I'm certain someone could out me. I'm not protecting my connection or device ID in any way.

>dirty laundry

All of the things I've cited about Oracle are public knowledge. If an employee of Monsanto says that RoundUp causes cancer, is that dirty laundry, or stating a scientifically proven fact?

Re: Why I Quit Oracle (2010)

#28

Post by bitL »

lobster_johnson wrote: post #26
bitL wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, SUN was cool back in the day before it moved to the "cursed" Santa Clara building. Interestingly, their original office is now occupied by Facebook (1 Hacker Way) and there is still sign of SUN in front of Facebook - unofficially to remind Facebook it shouldn't stop innovating.

What do you mean by "cursed"?

Scott McNealy blamed SUN's misfortune on moving to a former psychiatric ward in Santa Clara - it coincides with SUN's loss of luck (and some directors really believed the building was cursed). Also, business-wide there is a known "headquarters curse", when a company feels it needs to have a more representative HQ. Let's see what it does to Apple.

Re: Why I Quit Oracle (2010)

#29

Post by quuquuquu »

geofft wrote: post #23
saghm wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For winning arbitration (the company-mandated way to solve disputes) against them, for instance: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/01/26/oracle_sues_employe...

Oh wow, and then they lost that petition in court. https://regmedia.co.uk/2017/08/22/oracle_wilson_decision.pdf I can't imagine this was a good use of the company's lawyers' time (although it was probably good from the lawyers' perspective).

Larry has so much money and so many lawyers, this is his way of reassuring himself that his legal team isn't just lazing around.

"get out there and dig in the dumpster for gold nuggets!"

Re: Why I Quit Oracle (2010)

#30

Post by quuquuquu »

saghm wrote: post #13
smegel wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Oracle routinely sues its own employees. For what?

For winning arbitration (the company-mandated way to solve disputes) against them, for instance: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/01/26/oracle_sues_employe...

In addition, Svetlana Blackburn was literally fired for refusing her managers' orders to cook the books on Oracle's cloud revenue.

Management orders her to cook the books, at a public company!!

She's fired, she sues.

Oracle counter sues.

How is this ethical?

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