Softwar: An Intimate Portrait of Larry Ellison and Oracle

Good

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.

この本は Larry Ellison の foot notes がなければ、詳細なだけで少し陳腐な本になっていたかもしれません。Larry Ellison が時には本文を補足し、時には it is wrong と真っ向から反論したりしているので、全く退屈せずに読めました。Database や E-Business Suite で Oracle と実際に仕事をした事がある人には、Derek Williams, Ray Lane, Ron Wohl 等々全て実名で書かれているので、非常に面白く、Oracle のいわれや、結婚生活、ヨットレース、Life Sience 等 Oracle 以外について知る事ができるのも面白いです。一つ、Sanbashi を Three Bridges と本文で解説してありましたが、これは pier の間違いだと思います。

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.

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.