mccSep 16, 2024

What's funny about Oracle is like, most tech companies, people probably feel *skeevy* about, but also most tech cos have done 1 thing you Like. Lots of people love their Apple products. You might be annoyed at Google right now but there was probably a time they made you happy in some way. Microsoft? People do like XBoxes. OpenAI has fans!

But NOBODY interacts with Oracle on purpose. Even coders don't *pick* Oracle. There's no brake on you just *resenting* Larry Ellison.

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/09/omnipresent-ai-cameras-will-ensure-good-behavior-says-larry-ellison/

Omnipresent AI cameras will ensure good behavior, says Larry Ellison

We’re going to have supervision," says billionaire Oracle co-founder Ellison.

Ars Technica
Show threadmcc
Most humans go their entire lives without ever having a reason to have a distinct thought about Oracle. But if someone did decide to start developing outright hatred, for Oracle, there would be no cognitive dissonance cost to this. Even if there's an Oracle product you like it's probably something they purchased from another company, and you could always identify at least one way in which they made it worse
Sep 16, 2024 at 11:12pmTusky
Show threadRachel StantzSep 16, 2024
@mcc I once described Oracle as a "lich”. I stand by this assessment.
Show threadFionaSep 16, 2024
@mcc And the one thing they did that could've been positive (releasing Java source) they choose to do in such a messy and annoying way that it certainly doesn't create positive feelings either. ​​
Show threadmccSep 16, 2024
@airtower "our source is open but our header files? Those are supercopyright"
Show threadFionaSep 16, 2024
@mcc Also:
1. "Here are some sources that should make a JDK, but good luck building it!"
2. "You still got it to build and want to test standard compliance? Nuh-uh, trade secret, gotta pay a fortune for us to do it!"
Show threadDan HerbertSep 17, 2024

@mcc I might be misremembering, but I'm pretty sure the API Oracle sued over pre-dated them open sourcing Java. It's one of the reasons the lawsuit was so petty. By the time it had worked its way through the courts, Google had switched over to the open API so they were suing for stuff that no longer applied.

(One of the many reasons why I have strong negative opinions about Oracle)

Show threadclacke: exhausted pixie dream boy 🇸🇪🇭🇰💙💛Sep 24, 2024
@danherbert @mcc The header files were from the GPL-licensed OpenJDK, and Oracle sued Google because Google distributed their own Java implementation under the Apache license and copied the interface definitions. OpenJDK is several years older than Oracle's acquisition of Sun, and Android launched before the acquisition too.
Show threadAlan Langford 🇨🇦🧤🧊摏Sep 16, 2024
@mcc Hey, many moons ago I personally helped steer a large company away from a US$500K Oracle acquisition, in no small part based on a detailed argument that the vendor was Oracle.
Show threadocdtrekkieSep 16, 2024

@mcc I wanted to argue with this. Like I like both MySQL and Virtualbox. But I also liked both of them before Oracle had anything to do with them... and I certainly couldn't pin anything Oracle did that actually made them *better* in any way.

I feel like something something their ERP platforms at a certain scale have to make *someone* happy? Right? Somehow?

Show threadRaven667Sep 16, 2024
@ocdtrekkie @mcc oh God no, what a weird glitchy web0.5 piece of shit.
Show threadJim WinsteadSep 16, 2024

@mcc Sometimes I wonder if it helps or hurts that I have Oracle on my resume, or I should just call my time in those trenches MySQL all the way through.

It’s funny to me that they seem to rarely be included when you see lists of big tech companies.

Show threadKelsonSep 17, 2024

@mcc This.

Often more than one way.

Show threadKelsonSep 17, 2024
@mcc And as someone who's used both MySQL and Java since before Oracle bought them... 💢
Show threadThe DoctorSep 17, 2024
@mcc And they are indescribably lucky.
Show threadAdam ♿Sep 17, 2024
@mcc Here's another reason to think about it, Megan Ellison, Larry's daughter, founded Annapurna {Interactive, Studios}
Show threadHaelwenn /элвэн/ Sep 17, 2024
@mcc In fact biggest reasons I have for hating Oracle is how much they destruction they did on Sun's products.
Show threadSusanna the Artist 🌻Sep 17, 2024
@mcc Right now, the Oracle implementation is the shining beacon of hope in our enterprise IT system, which should tell you just how horrific the old system is.
Show threadc-x-b  Sep 17, 2024
@mcc "don't make the mistake of humanizing Larry Ellison"
Show threadarclightSep 17, 2024
@mcc I did my time as an unwilling Oracle admin. I'm ambivalent about the software - it's a pile of intractable legacy, more tedious 'meh' than anything. But Ellison has spent at least three decades justifying being yeeted into the sun. He's ine of the original overfunded authoritarian tech dbag - nobody should lose sleep over despising Ellison.
Show threadPär BjörklundSep 17, 2024
@mcc if you're in the Java ecosystem, GraalVM is extremely good and impressive despite being an oracle product
Show threadmccSep 17, 2024
@Paxxi it sounds like the engineering on the last ten years or so of Java has been absolutely great! I cannot use it because I don't want to hire a lawyer
Show threadJason FowlerSep 17, 2024
@mcc mySQL and Java are the okay products that Oracle bought
Show threadBilly O'NealSep 17, 2024
@mcc @PeterSommerlad obligatory @lmanul https://goomics.net/62/
Goomics 62

Show threadJima Sep 18, 2024

@mcc Part of why I like Oracle Cloud's free tier of services is because it costs them money to give me something.

There's a certain poetic humor to it.