Softwar: An Intimate Portrait of Larry Ellison and Oracle

Full disclosure requires me to report, at the outset of this review, that I had the privilege to work for Larry Ellison and Oracle Corporation back in the mid to late 80's. During my time at Oracle, I enjoyed the unique opportunity to meet with Mr. Ellison on a couple of most memorable occasions. When I did, I always had the distinct feeling that I was in the presence of a genius. And indeed, I was.In this unique, remarkable, and truly excellent book, Matthew Symonds captures, as well as a journalist could, what an amazing man Mr. Ellison is, and what an amazing company he founded and led to unbelievable success. Symonds also gives a truly special look inside the mind and character of the enigmatic founder of this software colossus.Currently, I am working on a book on the Relational Model for Database. And I picked up this book by Symonds as part of my research. Having read "Softwar", I am well prepared to describe, with awe, the remarkable role that Mr. Larry Ellison played in making Dr. E.F. Codd's dream a reality. Indeed, as Codd provided the theoretical foundation for the Relational Model for Database, and fought valiantly for its acceptance, even unto his death, Ellison probably merits more credit than any particular human being for making the Relational Model a commercial reality, and success.A common theme occurs throughout this wonderful book. The theme is that programmers, of which Larry Ellison is certainly one, are constantly playing the game of "I'm Smarter than You" whenever locked in technical debate. One of the reasons that Ellison is so disliked by many uninformed observers in the industry is that he nearly always won that game. And that sort of unparalleled excellence always seems to become the object of jealousy.I strongly recommend this excellent book to any who would understand both Mr. Ellison and the history of his amazing company. God bless.

For years it seems like I've heard about Larry Ellison being the complete antithesis of Bill Gates while at the same time earning almost as much money. Knowing this about him and very little about Oracle, I decided it was time to look into it. "Softwar" appears to blend a few things that I find very desirable into one book.First, its written by an independent observer-- Matthew Symonds of the Economist. While who can say whether this is truly an unbiased account, the vast majority of the book seems to portray Oracle in good light, but contains quips that allow the reader to see where all the Oracle detractors might have a point.Second, Larry Ellison. When Symonds writes something or quotes someone (like Tom Siebel or other former employees) and Ellison disagrees, he gets to chime in and tell his side of the story through footnotes. After looking at so many books that just don't seem to have any proximity to Ellison, I chose this book mainly because you can get Ellison's rhetoric straight from the horses's mouth.Third, if you read this book soon, the information will be more practical than books that seem to focus on interesting, but outdated info about a companies products or strategies. I personally knew nothing of Enterprise software or hardware other than hearing people complain about SAP. Now I at least have a semblence of knowledge about a field I'll probably end up at least working with.If you want a book that puts Oracle in a good light while displaying its bad side at times and to hear mostly about Oracle with a brief biography of Ellison and how he commands the world's second largest software company, read it! PS I loved it.

I always wanted to read this book, and now a decade later I finally get to it...Good news- There's some great reporting embedded in what is really a ~500 page PR piece for Ellison- The Ray Lane story was worth the read- Ellison at the emergence of the Internet and struggling (like others) to see the future is a great historical readBad news- Giving the subject of your book permission to have a running commentary on the bottom of each page of your text, makes a mockery of the word journalist. (Doubly so because Ellison's commentary was unnecessary and extraneous. It added nothing to the story. It only proved how badly he compromised the author.)- The book was in desperate need of an editor. It has periods of true reporting sandwiched in-between verbatim transcripts of Ellison position papers. Easily could have been 1/2 the size and twice as good.- Tons of tactical details about: Ellison firing execs, defending Ron Wahl is spite of overwhelming evidence of incompetence, management by parachuting in, management only in crisis,etc. but none of this gets put into a coherent description of 1) who is Larry Ellison, 2) why given the permanent dysfunction of the company did it and he succeed. If there ever was a great example of "can't see the forest for the trees" reporting, this book is it.- The whitewash of the Oracle contracting scandal with the State of California is a great example of when reporters become PR flacks of their subject. The author spent 3 years with Ellison and couldn't conclude "of course Oracle was pushing the edge?" A reporter would have asked if the "sales at any price" culture that almost killed the company in the 1990's had returned. A comprised flak rationalized it.- Three years with Ellison and Oracle and no summing up of how this talented and flawed human being built the company

Though this book is a couple of years old, it is still a fascinating look at Ellison and Oracle. The author had extensive access to the subjects, and though he occasionally spends a bit too much time on seemingly unimportant details (sailing), there is a lot to learn from the twists and turns of both Ellison's life and the history of his company. Giving Ellison the chance to comment at the end of each chapter even adds extra entertainment value. People often tend to be polarized in their opinion of both Ellison and Oracle, but the book is an excellent work.

Larry Ellison is undoubtedly and impressive individual. Matt Symonds clearly admires Ellison and with good reason. However, the book feels far from objective, particularly from a journalist. Reviews outside of Amazon describe it as "overly fawning" which matches my experience with the book. In addition, the book can in places be rather repetitive, particularly when discussing the Business Suite and Ellison's belief that Oracle enterprise software would be the singular and ultimate business application suite.I finished book thinking that with Symonds' level of access to Ellison, the book could have been so much more.

Pour ceux qui veulent un peu mieux connaître un versant de la vie de ce grand de l'informatique des années 80 à 2000 et quelques unes de ses pratiques. Larry Ellison a fait ce que la société Oracle est de nos jours et depuis ses origines, incontournable !Ouvrage facile à lire, même si en anglais, passionnant et instructif.

Good

I love it...

This book was written by a journalist, so you get a very good picture of the man and his journey. Riveting read, very enjoyable.