484 lines The "CEOascrook" FAQ 2041

Phil Scott

The problem is that many CEOs ala Gates-Jobs are in denial of who they are... selfish monopolistic opportunists, not long term thinkers for the technological progress of society.

Ellison, like Gates, speculates on future technologies, but unlike Gates, he's honest and somewhat clairvoyant about upcoming technologies but centered and ruthless in his own sector. The trend towards a central repository of media services, distribution, etc was in fact predicted by Ellison some 12+ years ago (before the dot com-net took off) though his company, Oracle, failed to capture that arena due to the presence of major media and cable providers. In addition, he's presently given up on IT as a growth industry and invests privately in biotech ventures and other future looking industries. So, in some ways, it's progress because he's aware of the fact that the future of technology doesn't really belong to him. At most, he'll just be another successful investor in the future and not the one who really makes it happen.

Now, although MS has control over major desktop applications, its range doesn't really extend anywhere outside of it despite the decade long SQLServer hoopla. It's a situation not too different from Oracle's. Gates musings on the future, however, don't indicate any special clairyonance even though he fulfills some stereotypical motif of a S&E genius who stays up all night wondering about the future. The truth is that he's just another rich guy with dreams of being remembered as the Edison of this time frame but with little to offer unless you think that the Office Suite was a technological breakthrough. He also travels the country telling students to study S&E but then, only gives offers to those with the high enough GPAs to get into a top tier law or medical school which are better options for most people anyways.

Larry, however, isn't like Bill. He's not concerned about S&E jobs and he doesn't mince his words to appear to be a forward thinking mentor for society. Ellison's a mercurial billionaire, a Howard Hughes of sorts, who enjoys himself and controls a tightly run database corporation. And that's what a CEO is, a member of the ownership clbutt.