Apparently Larry Ellison recently became the richest person in the world, although they're also saying that Elon Musk rebounded after a few hours to keep the title. Still, they're both one of a very small elite. The wealthiest men who haven't paid to have their names removed from the public record.
Will Ellison use his wealth more for good than evil. I wouldn't count on it, given that his son is looking to further merger the already thoroughly mergered Hollywood.
But the weird thing from my perspective is how Ellison got there with Oracle. Don't get me wrong, Oracle seems from the outside like it would be quite profitable. But look at Microsoft. They took over the operating system business with MS-DOS in 1981, when the personal computing era was just getting underway. Windows came a few years later. I use Windows. Most people do in some way, whether they like it or not. And the Microsoft Office suite that includes Word and Excel is pretty much universally used. So I know how I've put money in Bill Gates's pocket. Anything I've done to make Ellison richer has been invisible.
2 comments:
Data base management systems, data hardware production, first project included a database for the CIA, code-named "Oracle", in 2021 Ellison offered Netanyahu a post at Oracle.... Just a few days ago I read the tech giant Larry Ellison is set on increasing his $393bn fortune by transforming Oxford into the new Silicon Valley. Every time the subject of tech zillionaires comes up my stomach hurts and my eyes glaze over.
Yes, most computer users are familiar with the Microsoft products you named; the part we rarely consider is the size and reach of cloud computing and how much information is collected about us without anyone really knowing. From what I can understand that's Larry Ellison's business model - not that I know much other than what I see when I look up Oracle on Google: software for managing core business functions, tools for managing human resources and payroll, solutions for managing customer interactions, software for managing supply chain operations, and tools for financial planning and analysis among a number of others.
Those are just a few of the things that remain invisible to most of us, things that have far too much control over our lives. Now Oracle and Open AI have signed a multi-billion dollar deal but stock market gains do nothing to make our lives better. Meanwhile the tech bros continue to vacuum up houses they don't inhabit, yachts they have no time to sail, jets and helicopters they don't fly themselves, islands where they don't enjoy a swim, and now universities. What next? Mars, perhaps?
Your reaction to the tech elite is Charlie Brown-ish, but I can't say it's not warranted. After all, they don't just have all the money. They also have way too much power for people who lack wisdom, and probably think wisdom is inherent in their high test scores. The best thing that could be said of Larry Ellison is that he doesn't hide the kind of man he is. Of course that raises the question of whether he could if he tried.
It's true. Most of those functions are pretty well out of sight unless you're on the provider end, i.e. a technical person in the businesses that use the software. But cloud computing raises all sorts of questions. What happens to your work or data in the cloud. I've never intentionally saved anything to the cloud. Can I be sure that nothing I do is being sent there without my knowledge?
One thing I've noted about the tech industry is that for a lot of them there's no difference between the promises they make and the threats. They just routinely say things like "This is the end of humans doing their own thinking" and while that sounds apocalyptically awful, they expect it will attract new investors. And they have a reason to expect that, given past performance. Anyway, universities being up for sale suggests that they've been corrupted from their true purpose for a while. And Mars indeed. Anyone can claim ownership of the Red Planet. Mars itself is probably unaware of its obligation to comply.
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