Oracle has good, bad and ugly within it.
The good comes from how Oracle jumped in early in a some key technical areas over the decades. Database was first. Then business applications. Then converged hardware. One has to give Oracle some credit for finding its way into areas that provided growth and in not stagnating. The profitability that resulted has given a lot of people employment with good pay and benefits -- many of which have enjoyed it for around two decades. Which brings up another good area -- one of the best things about Oracle is the presence of some very smart people and some great colleagues.
Despite being a major technology company, there is plenty that is bad about Oracle. Oracle has become well known for being difficult to deal with and the company doesn't take very good care of its customers despite taking in lots of money for "support". The first release of a product is typically buggy, documentation is horrific and customer service can be awful at times. Despite offering an "integrated" solution, the amount of internal finger pointing between departments can be as bad as dealing with separate suppliers. Oracle's ability to, in essence, extort additional money from customers through its sales tactics and/or audits brings fears to the hearts of many businesses. As a result, customers have been searching to find ways to dump Oracle products/services. Now that alternatives are becoming increasingly viable, Oracle is beginning to see enterprises replace Oracle technology with products/services from competitors.
The ugly stems from the top of the organization and seems to have roots from long ago. LE still tells stories about how he didn't feel approval from either his father or his mother. As a result, he seems to have been on a lifelong mission to prove that he is worthwhile. While there is no doubt that he is driven and smart, he is also one of the biggest narcissists around, seems incapable of empathy and believes that victory justifies everything. Oracle's culture reflects that -- everything from the hiring of someone like MH, to the battles that rage internally, to how customers are treated, to "creative accounting" or other unethical behaviors, etc. Oracle revolves around making LE powerful, rich and famous.
Now that things are starting to catch up with Oracle, unfortunately, many good people are being impacted. Not having topline growth and needing to find ways to create a story of success (for LE's ego) and growth (for LE's pocketbook) means that layoffs coupled with a shift to lower cost labor are the natural result. If your livelihood is currently linked to Oracle, be very aware of the situation you are in and how that could end up impacting you.