Softwar: An Intimate Portrait of Larry Ellison and Oracle

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Softwar is a biography of Larry Ellison and his company, Oracle. As such, it's simultaneously a portrait of a clever and driven man, a case study of a successful software development company, and a tableau of the commercial software industry from its beginnings, through the dot-com craze, and into the present era. Matthew Symonds, who began this project while working as the editor of the excellent technology section of the Economist, has done a great job with all three elements of his project, thanks in no small part to the tremendous access he was given and to his close collaboration with Ellison.

Collaboration is very nearly the right word, as Ellison reviewed Symonds' manuscript before publication and, while he did not alter it, he did make a large number of comments, which appear in the book as footnotes. As Symonds is a good journalist who attributes most of his material, Ellison is able to take issue immediately with statements other people make about him and his company. The overall effect is hypertextual, and represents an important new biographical technique that other writers should imitate. Softwar succeeds because Ellison has a fantastically interesting life, tremendous experience, and carefully considered opinions, and because Symonds communicates them with clarity and style. --David Wall

Topics covered: The life, times, acquaintances, tastes, toys, and opinions of Larry Ellison, the database entrepreneur and CEO of Oracle Corporation.

Book Description

In a business where great risks, huge fortunes, and even bigger egos are common, Larry Ellison stands out as one of the most outspoken, driven, and daring leaders of the software industry. The company he cofounded and runs, Oracle, is the number one business software company. Perhaps even more than Microsoft's, Oracle's products are essential to today's networked world.

In Softwar, journalist Matthew Symonds gives readers exclusive and intimate insight into both Oracle and the man who made it and runs it. As well as relating the story of Oracle's often bumpy path to industry dominance, Symonds deals with the private side of Ellison's life. With unlimited insider access granted by Ellison himself, Symonds captures the intensity and, some would say, the recklessness that have made Ellison a legend.

With a new and expanded epilogue for the paperback edition that tells the story behind Oracle's epic struggle to win control of PeopleSoft, Softwar is the most complete portrait undertaken of the man and his empire -- a unique and gripping account of both the way the computing industry really works and an extraordinary life.

Customer Reviews:

Very interesting.......2006-08-01

I have to admit that this book really caught me. It isn't light reading, and it isn't a beacon of objectivity, but the book is packed with action, and very little of it is filler. Having Ellison comment on this is also very interesting read. The book is written the clarity, even if lot of it is just quoting people the author has interviewed, but it does seem like he was asking the right questions and his interviewees did not hesitate to answer candidly.

The book doesn't actually talk much about Oracle's database, but is more focused on Ellison's new integrated suite vision. While it certainly is interesting, I believe Oracle is still very much a database company so the database part is conspicuously over-downplayed/ignored. And the book does tend to go back and forth in time quite a bit.

But the book is worth every minute. Ellison's management practice isn't textbook materials, but in this case, it does seem to work.

Great Read, but Flawed.......2006-07-20

True to its subtitle Softwar does indeed deliver an 'intimate portrait' of billionaire business leader Larry Ellison. Unfortunately, although the book is enthralling and features an incredibly interesting format including written responses by Ellison to points raised by Symonds, it falls short in two important areas for biographies.

Firstly, Symonds is not objective - he clearly worked very closely with Ellison and certainly paints a more rosy picture of the complicated man than a more impartial observer may. Secondly, the structure of the book is lacking. The first section of the book (although it is not actually divided as a section) covers Ellison's business life chronoligically and perhaps in too detailed a manner to always remain interesting (there's an alphabet soup of executive names that are never heard from again). Then what I would consider the second section of the book jumps around from business to personal ventures and lacks a real 'feeling of time'. A more traditional fully integrated narrative of the personal and business sides to Ellison's life would perhaps have been superior since it's difficult to gage how much pressures in one area of Ellison's life are affecting the other.

Even with its flaws, Softwar is well written and comes as close to being autobiographical as a non-autobiography can. The subject himself is certainly interesting enough to warrant the 500 pages, and the unique response format is refreshing.

very interesting but not objetive.......2006-01-21

very interesting book overall, paints larry in a very (probably almost too) positive light. (the author was selected by larry to write the book.) the most interesting part is that larry adds his own notes to the bottom of various pages. the parts about sailing at the end were sort of boring, but it's nice to know that larry is planning on donating to medical foundations when he retires from oracle.

Highly Recommended!.......2004-04-30

This book is a comprehensive, detailed collection of Larry Ellison anecdotes and quotes from people around him. Author Matthew Symonds occasionally interjects himself, but mostly lets his sources talk. Perhaps for fairness, he quotes many people who disagree with each other about important decisions at Oracle. Perhaps for journalistic objectivity, he generally refrains from judgment. This shows the reader every perspective, even if it doesn't define context, chronology or direction. You get all of the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, though you may want a clearer box top picture. Some of the technology coverage will intrigue only tech industry buffs, but overall you will learn a great deal of interesting information about Ellison and Oracle.
We also found that Ellison's character came most into focus when the book entered the world of yacht racing, his passion. The author also includes poignant, revealing anecdotes about Ellison's childhood and candid reports about his personal life. Larry Ellison was allowed to review the manuscript and his comments appear as counterbalancing footnotes on many pages. That guy, he always does things a new way - as you will see.

Master of the poison, master of the cure.......2004-04-10

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, it was an open secret that if you were what was called then "one of the freaks" and you had, perhaps, taken a few physics or math classes involving computer usage, you could get work for any number of banks, insurance agencies and other mainframe users. The boss was grateful for your work, and, you could pretty much control the conditions.

It appears that Larry Ellison was one of these early programmers, whose maturation is documented in this book. But as with any maturation, it includes the acquisition of blind spots.

For while I in general support Larry's goal of eliminating "islands" within organizations of isolated and contradictory data and code, I am more pessimistic than he as to whether it can be accomplished.

The well-known and by now well-worn theme of Derrida, that of the undecidable gap between writing and speech, means that the ultimate grand vision, of "one" data base, may never be attained.

Larry is right about the Internet: it is the Last Big Thing. This can be proven apriori. For given two or more networks, and given zero cost and high benefit in their connection, whether through a narrow gateway or broadband, then we can say that the two networks "want" to become one network and instantaneously, at warp speed, shall do so. In the late 1980s, several networks operated in academia, government and privately did just this because there is, absent security considerations, a seemingly irresistable craving on the part of networks to join other networks and indeed to become the Internet.

This is the synthetic apriori argument, for both the existence and unity of the Internet as a given. However, and as soon as it is constructed, the reverse, analytic argument against the Internet's usability by the corporation may be constructed, which will return us to Mr. Ellison: for I fail to see how the possibility, of constructing a single logical path to a single data base for the organization, means it can be actualized.

I fail to see this because this has long been an unmet promise of ultimate managerial control within organizations (the "executive dashboard" being one such foolish idea), a control which manages to dismiss the fact that an organization consists of the labor of intelligent beings all the way down...to the person who picks up the trash.

I fail to see this because as a form inescapably of writing, data systems imply their own multiplicity. The "scribe" in all societies develops his own agenda and there is no check on him available to power as such, because power as such relies on the self-interested "scribe" to transmit its will and an almost (but not quite) mathematical problem results in the self-reflexivity.

The crisis is in Mr. Ellison's genuine concern with the way in which data and human intelligence systems failed to predict September 11, a concern which I happen to share. Indeed, I believe that September 11 starkly fulfilled a dismal prophecy of the late hero computer scientist Edsger Dijkstra.

Unlike many highly-placed figures in the computer science establishment, hero computer scientist Dijkstra was concerned, all the way down, about the quality and even the basic correctness of the data systems being designed over his lifetime, and he said at one point that he feared that organizations would collapse under the cumulative overcomplexity of their unmastered data systems. The stark images of a collapsing center for symbol processing on September 11 may be the fulfillment of this prophecy.

One of the FBI field agents assigned to investigation of terrorism prior to September 11, Colleen Rowley, testified before Congress that she did not even have the capability to enter Boolean format queries in the FBI data base, for example of the form "terrorist association and attends flight school".

Of course, Oracle data bases of the sort Larry and his company provide, provide this capability in mass quantities. At the same time, their very complexity (which may be unavoidable) generates scribal bureaucracies which are in both Plato's and Derrida's sense pharmakon, poison and cure, and, in general, the hair of the dog.

It is clear that these sorts of scribal bureaucracies at the FBI felt that some sort of extension or hack to provide rapidly the needed capability at the FBI was a "hard" problem, because these scribal bureaucracies reproduce themselves by insisting that such problems are "hard", and that the CEO is too busy to involve himself with writing...in a stark, if completely unconscious, replication of Plato's account of writing.

The result today is that a great deal of social inequality, created in part by fortune-seeking by the scribal class, means that it's impossible to create a unified written "intelligence" for policy making, and the result is an out of control foreign policy which as I write is creating preconditions for further terrorism.

Symonds breathlessly notes that Larry and his wife are both big fans of Donald Rumsfeld. Bush, and Bush's war, have deep roots in the self-interest of the new, successful American elite.

This elite marched and protested its parent's war in Vietnam, and, Ellison was a supporter of Robert Kennedy's fatal bid for the 1968 presidential nomination. Rumsfeld, for that matter, was an anti-war Republican under Nixon.

However, it appears that Larry may be blind to realities in much the same way that middle-aged managers were blind to the downside of enormous mainframe computing in the early 1970s. He views the future as one of large corporations competing, especially in his own industry, for a diminishing pie.

However, large corporations are composed of intelligent agents, who act from a unique combination of self-interest and complete irrationality, and, just as Ellison's own generation constructed its own reality in the form of microcomputer and micro culture, the next generation may prove him wrong. Or, Dijsktra's prophecy may come true, in which case we'll be busy gathering firewood and not worrying about SQL.

Book Description

With forty well structured and easy to follow topics to choose from, each workbook has a wide range of case studies, questions and activities to meet both an individual or organization's training needs. Whether studying for an ILM qualification or looking to enhance the skills of your employees, Super Series provides essential solutions, frameworks and techniques to support management and leadership development.

* Developed by the ILM to support their Level 3 Introductory Certificate and Certificate in First Line Management
* Well-structured and easy to follow
* Fully revised and updated

Managing Tough Times Super Series, Fourth Edition (ILM Super Series)

Average customer rating:

Managing Tough Times Super Series, Fourth Edition (ILM Super Series)

Manufacturer: Pergamon Flexible Learning
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0750658177

Book Description

With forty well structured and easy to follow topics to choose from, each workbook has a wide range of case studies, questions and activities to meet both an individual or organization's training needs. Whether studying for an ILM qualification or looking to enhance the skills of your employees, Super Series provides essential solutions, frameworks and techniques to support management and leadership development.

*Developed by the ILM to support their Level 3 Introductory Certificate and Certificate in First Line Management
*Well-structured and easy to follow
*Fully revised and updated

Book Description

The transition zone is the toughest area in which to maintain quality turf. It is a zone where temperature and precipitation vary greatly from season to season and where more intensive maintenance of seasonal grasses is required.This is the only book to cover the maintenance of intensive turfgrasses found in such zones. Easy to read and practical this book offers the superintendent or turf manager accessible information in a complex and difficult area.
* This is the only book to cover the maintenance of intensive turfgrasses found in the transition zones
* It addresses the basic science of growth cycles, nutrients and fertilisers, in an accessible way, so that that turf managers can easily locate and understand the information they need
* It covers all aspects of cultural practices including mowing and irrigation
* Features information on diseases and insects specific to the transition zone

Customer Reviews:

From the front yard to the back nine.......2006-02-24

One of the best books on the subject that I have ever read. Full of illustrations and helpful advice for all levels of caretaking, you can't help but learn something useful from this book.

Average customer rating:

Turf Management in the Transition Zone
John H. Dunn
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000N7IEQW

Average customer rating:
GEODe, Geologic Explorations on Disk, Interactive CD-ROM, Macintosh & Windows Mulyimedia CD-ROM
Edward J. Tarbuck
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: CD-ROM
ASIN: B000T0HRBG

Average customer rating:
Holt Science and Technology, Interactive Explorations CD-ROM Program for Macintosh and Windows (Teacher's Guide)

Manufacturer: HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0030554683

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Interactive Explorations: For Windows & Macintosh
Thomas Arny
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Companies
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Astronomy | Astronomy | Professional Science | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0815102925

Customer Reviews:

Why would I want a book full of pictures of Sedona when Im Going There?.......2005-12-19

Dont buy this book, unless you dont mind reading the whole thing to get information. It is written in story form...it has no headers that so you can easily find information. This is supposed to be a guide book which should provide useful and easy to access information, instead it reads more like a novel.

Average customer rating:

Refreshing and Up to Date

Just OK

A Proper and Well-Planned Wedding

Planner Does Not Meet Expectations

Wonderful resource

Emily Post's Wedding Planner, 4e (Emily Post's Wedding Planner)
Peggy Post
Manufacturer: Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Spiral-bound

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Emily Post's Wedding Etiquette, 5e (Emily Post's Wedding Etiquette)

The Knot Ultimate Wedding Planner: Worksheets, Checklists, Etiquette, Calendars, and Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

The Best of Martha Stewart Living Weddings (Best of Martha Stewart Living)

Emily Post on Weddings: Revised Edition

Bridal Bargains, 8th Edition: Secrets to throwing a fantastic wedding on a realistic budget (Bridal Bargains)

ASIN: 0060745037
Release Date: 2006-11-07

Book Description

Revised and repackaged, a perfect companion to our bestselling Emily Post's Wedding Etiquette, this new edition will help brides ask all the right questions, keep track of all the details, stick to their budget, and plan the wedding of their dreams.

This new edition combines a lively, attractive design with streamlined practicality, providing important to–do checklists, questions to ask, vendor comparison charts, and budgeting information for easy use by today's busy brides. Emily Post's Wedding Planner will help couples organize and keep track of every detail of their wedding, with the clarity and comprehensiveness readers have come to expect from this trusted authority. Peggy Post helps couples organize their decisions and move ahead with bringing their wedding to life. When used as a companion to Emily Post's Wedding Etiquette, Fifth Edition, every couple can feel confident that no detail has been overlooked in creating a wedding experience that will be treasured by all for years to come.

Customer Reviews:

Refreshing and Up to Date.......2007-03-06

Emily Post's Wedding Planner will keep you informed and up to date on every aspect of the wedding process. I always rely on Emily Post books for information on proper etiquette and protocol for all events and this book is no exception. Whether information is needed for planning a wedding (or even for research like for my latest novel!), Emily Post's Wedding Planner by Peggy Post is "the" go-to guide. I highly recommend it! --Kimberly Llewellyn, Author, aka "The Wedding Writer"

Just OK.......2007-02-11

This planner was ok but didnt't really stand out from other ones I had perused in the bookstores. I was hoping for some unique tips (including etiquette pointers) but didn't really find them.

A Proper and Well-Planned Wedding.......2006-02-06

This planner guide is beautiful. I love the binding since it is easy to browse topics without the book flipping closed. It covers various information and check lists that are useful to first-time brides (or mothers of the bride). I appreciate the simplicity and the inclusion of Post's infamous manners to help me plan a proper wedding. The big drawback is that the book is so crisp and worth saving as a memoir of the planning process and 'big day' that I am timid to write in it and make full use of its pages for fear I'll mess it up. Otherwise, it is a classic and simple gift for a newly engaged couple.

Planner Does Not Meet Expectations.......2005-11-26

I am a huge fan of Emily Post's Wedding Etiquette book and it has helped me be a better bride, bridesmaid, and wedding guest. It is well organized and lays the proper etiquette for every possible scenario. It's wonderful.

I wish I could say the same about the planner. I was a little disappointed. Although it lays out the same etiquette tips as in the book there is little writing room for notes and if you use pencil the paper does not take kindly to eraser. It would be nice if the book had pockets to carry brochures and other paperwork that wedding venues are so liberal to hand out. They also need a "matrix" of some sort to compare certain venues.

Perhaps this planner was not useful for me as my reception venue was all inclusive, but I would recommend making your own. Many wedding planners should be personalized and should meet your specific needs.

Wonderful resource.......2004-04-29

This book is simple and elegant - you can judge it by its cover. It takes the wedding planning process step-by-step, helping you decide each aspect of your wedding by offering the full range of choices, down to veil styles.

The vendor questions were extremely helpful, and due to the color and size of this book I did not feel silly taking it with me to appointments. It has adequate space to write but is more of a workbook style, with lists and notes throughout instead of all in one place.

I did not use this book all the way through my engagement because I needed more detailed, personalized information. It was excellent for planning. It was definitely our number one resource for etiquette and formality questions.

Average customer rating:

This is a very thorough reference book.

It's Proper, Proper & Proper!!!

Wedding Ett 2 Vol Set
Post
Manufacturer: INGRAM BOOK COMPANY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Emily Post's Wedding Etiquette, 5e (Emily Post's Wedding Etiquette)

ASIN: 0062700057

Book Description

A special shrink-wrapped package that contains the two classic and indispensable books that every bride will not want to be without at a special price.

Customer Reviews:

This is a very thorough reference book........1998-07-01

I am a wedding consultant and I use this book to address all types of etiquette issues. No consultant -- or bride -- should be without it.

It's Proper, Proper & Proper!!!.......1998-06-29

The most Proper way you would need your wedding to be. Tells you the proper way to address invitations & announcements, the proper things to include in a Bride's Trousseau, proper march-in, proper wedding registry, proper blah, proper dee... I need one of these proper books to know what to do, & how to do it properly. Maybe you do, too!

Average customer rating:

Emily Post's Wedding Planner for Moms
Peggy Post
Manufacturer: Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Weddings | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0061228001
Release Date: 2007-05-29

Book Description

EMILY POST'S WEDDING PLANNER FOR MOMS suggests how mothers of the bride and groom can get involved with the wedding process. Once a mother discusses with the couple what role she is to play in planning the big day, a parade of details often begins––a dizzying array of dates, people, places, and prices need to be remembered. This book will help Mom get a handle on her responsibilities, from pre–wedding parties through thank–you notes.

With spaces to record ideas, contact details, and prices, this guide puts all of the pertinent information right at mom's fingertips. It is divided into five easy–to–use sections, including: Your Daughter/Son Is Engaged!, Guests and Gifts, The Wedding Ceremony and Reception, and Added Touches (i.e., flowers, music, and photos). A Resources section includes all–important worksheets for wedding guests, party guests, gift record, budgets and more. An address book lets moms keep critical contact information in one place. Handy checklists help Mom and the couple stay on top of deadlines and details. Stress–busting tips, frequently–asked questions, and practical ideas from wedding consultants will help Mom defuse anxiety throughout this hectic, exciting time.

Overall, EMILY POST'S WEDDING PLANNER FOR MOMS helps mom participate in her child's wedding with grace, efficacy, creativity, and understanding. It enables her to play a role that both she and the couple desires, be it as a communications hub for family, friends and service providers, an emotional support, a sounding board, or an all–out wedding coordinator.

Emily Post's Complete Book of Wedding Etiquette and Planner

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Emily Post's Complete Book of Wedding Etiquette and Planner
Elizabeth Post
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Planning | Weddings | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0061816825

Average customer rating:

Helpful but needs more adaptability

Emily Post's Wedding planner
Elizabeth L Post
Manufacturer: Harper & Row
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0060909358

Customer Reviews:

Helpful but needs more adaptability.......2000-06-17

I was looking for a planner that had the typical checklists, timelines, etc. This book has all of those and great information about every aspect of your wedding -- from the fabrics for your dress to the wording of your invitations. The only thing this book needs are the little pockets so that you can add business cards, magazine clippings and other such things that brides-to-be collect in preparation for their weddings. Perhaps it should have been made as a notebook -- so you could add your own paper as well.

Overall ... a helpful book!

Average customer rating:
Emily Post's Wedding Etiquette and Planner

Manufacturer: HarperTrade
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Planning | Weddings | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000HNPQ36

Average customer rating:
EMILY POST'S WEDDING PLANNER
Elizabeth L. Post
Manufacturer: HarperResource
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Planning | Weddings | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000OF4TZS

Average customer rating:
Emily Post's Wedding Planner
Elizabeth L. Post
Manufacturer: Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Planning | Weddings | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000OEQQVY

Average customer rating:
Emily Post's Wedding Planner
Elizabeth L.; Post, Emily Post
Manufacturer: Harper & Row
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: B000OEMMF8

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