Oracle doesnt have customers, it has hostages. While this is not a new phenomenon, what is new is that there are big tech companies who have large successful practices that essentially perform jailbreak operations for these customers. Oracle used to be unassailable in the enterprise database world, now it faces competition from many different areas, from solid Open Source performers, to things like AWS Aurora, and keep in mind that of all the AWS Services that have ever been offered, Aurora is THE most popular and fastest growing service. Azure's most popular service is the database migration service, where customers are gleefully fleeing the embrace of Oracle for, of all things - MS SQL Server, what was formerly an uncompetitive product against Oracle but matched with Azure is quite attractive. This kind of explosive growth for Aurora and Azure-SQL can only come from one source - Oracle Hostages who have made a break for freedom.
When you see 20-30% quarterly growth in AWS and Microsoft, you must understand that those numbers are not just coming from new business of internet startups, those numbers can only come from one source - a legacy software vendor that is in collapse and the legacy software company that you see with most tepid growth - is Oracle. Those big numbers at AWS represent the good ship Oracle as she slips beneath the waves, joining other formerly great companies like HP.
Oracle's 'missing the cloud' is akin to what would have happened if Oracle had not adapted to Linux and COTS servers in the early part of this century, it would have been a disaster, a disaster that looks very similar to the current disaster.
Oracles current "Beatings will continue until morale improves" strategy is doing nothing but accelerating the growth of AWS and Azure at the expense of its own bottom line. LJE and his famous blustery ego allowed Jeff Bezos to steal a march against his company for almost a decade before he finally decided that yes, cloud was important after all. In the near future, MBA's will write term papers about how Oracle went from the top of the market to a husk of its former self not just because it refused to innovate due to complacency, but instead decided of the rather unwise strategy of abusing its customers.
The board of Oracle needs to come to an understanding that LJE is 73 years old. Larry Ellison spent the better part of the last decade allowing Jeff Bezos to build a gigantic compute machine that lives primarily off of the mistakes his own leadership has created. AWS made a billion dollars last quarter - not in revenue, but profit, cash in the bank, profit and they made it by mining former oracle customers who dont like being held hostage.
The board needs to recognize that MH is good at one thing, turning formerly great companies into smaller less successful companies. He did it at HP and he's done it again at Oracle. If youre in the need for an executive who knows how to downsize a company and make it look like growth - MH is your man. The market needs to recognize that without a significant change in executive leadership, the former dominant player in databases and applications is no longer worth the candle. Employees at Oracle need to understand that the best they can hope for at this point is an acquisition by Google or remaining a niche player with tepid growth, looking back on its glory days and wondering where it all went so horribly wrong.
My answer to them is it went horribly wrong in 2009 and almost decade later, its still going wrong.
"Next Slide"
Excellent post by @TH3WTE6-ywg, deserved to be on the front page.