Cloud-happy Oracle dodges rumors it is axing its traditional hardware ... as sales of traditional hardware fall Oracle is once more waving around its cloud revenue figures in response to another quarter of falling hardware sales. This ongoing drop in traditional hardware revenue comes as Oracle tries to shake off rumors that it will be winding down its on-premises system divisions from January. Speculation is rife on anonymous internet …
> I think redundancy is preferable to working there ...
I hung on for ages hoping to be made redundant, but no luck - saw plenty of people around me go through. I was almost last man standing, so made the leap to another company (hooray!!), only to find a year later the whole team (or what was left of it) was let go.
Those who think they will NEVER GET LAID off
and
those who have been laid off
And it will happen.
I was told once by an grey beard at IBM that after 20 years when his entire team was laid off only to be hired back the SAME DAY as contractors , that corporations really hate employees and view them only as a means to make a profit for the elites. We are all disposable as old printer cartridges when they dry up .
There is a reason you don't see many middle age people working at many hi-tech companies - they are no longer wanted.
There are two types of accountants:
Those that cost the company money in the short term by making employees redundant and hiring them again as contractors.
And those that cost the company money in the long term by making employees redundant and hiring them again as contractors.
I want to say something unconventional here. I admire Oracle for sticking to hardware for so long. It's been over six years since the acquisition completed and quarter by quarter, people have been predicting that it's the quarter that Oracle will drop all hardware.
So far it didn't happen. I think this is the first quarter where cloud revenue exceeded hardware revenue, and yet no, hardware isn't getting dropped. If nothing else, Oracle is on its way to become Oracle's biggest hardware customer.
FWIW, Sun would be headed for bankruptcy if it wasn't for Oracle. Sun could never made the decisions that Oracle made, and heaven forbid if IBM took over Sun. It would have outright destroyed everything years ago and laid everyone off. As it is, Oracle increased investment into Solaris and SPARC and gave it direction and focus for the last six years. And apparently Oracle intend to continue, since they denied all these rumors as soon a quiet period ended.
Oh, last but not least -- Oracle more than made back all the money it spent on Sun and hardware is still profitable. Who would willingly decide to just drop a 4 billion dollar business?!
Solaris through all it's incarnations and various enterprises has given me a good living since 1991 and I currently look after some small M series Sparc hardware that do the heavy lifting in Windows domains. We've recently bought some M10-1 machines for their LDOM capability. The ironic thing is and the unpalatable truth for many on the internet is that in my recent experience I've found Solaris under Oracle actually works when it's released and all the buggy stuff we used to get with new releases from Sun usually work first time now. No doubt some troll will highlight some patch or other that didn't work but my job is definitely a lot easier nowadays.
What links the companies I've worked for and why Solaris has no chance is that the accountants have the final decisions in an enterprise and they will save pennies this quarter (because that's how they're appraised) which will cost the enterprise thousands of pounds in the medium/long term, that's the way in nearly all organisations in the UK and the USA. So which two modern western economies have the lowest productivity because everyone at the coalface is demoralised?, um, now let me see. We see no chance of things changing for the better but only a relentless annual chipping away of T&Cs on flexitime, expenses etc (I've chosen not to travel for work for a few years now). Companies just seem to want to hack their own employees off for no good reason.
This continued austerity does none of us any good, it's just depressing. It doesn't even feed into better profitability.
Sorry to go off topic but believe the poor decision making is all linked to the downward spiral.
That anonymous website is full of competitors comments posting FUD in order to undermine each other. It obvious when you start seeing pro IBM sales messages in the comments section. Anyone can post what they like on that site so don't believe anything you read on there.
SPARC and Solaris ARE being developed further wait and see.
Also Oracle wouldn't ditch hardware either as they make a lot of their money from engineered systems so that makes absolutely no sense.
www.thelayoff.com is a classic case of fake news.
I refer you to the post I made above. There were four options for Sun:
1. Go bankrupt.
2. Get bought out by IBM for IP and have all hardware and systems axed overnight.
3. Get bought out by Oracle for IP and have all hardware and systems axed overnight.
4. Get bought out by Oracle and have investment in hardware and systems axed increased.
Options 1 and 2 have been avoided. They would have happened if it wasn't for Oracle buying Sun.
Option 3 is something a lot of FUDsters from other vendors would have you believe. So far there were 26 quarters where they were wrong. If Oracle ever decides to end something, they'll be the first ones to go out and tell you: WE TOLD YOU SO! Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
Option 4 is something going strong for the last 6 years. Oracle made money on the Sun acquisition, spent a lot on developing Solaris, SPARC and other hardware, and are still making money on hardware.
As long as hardware makes money for Oracle, why would they kill it?
Oracle is probably the only large IT company that does not lay off swathes of staff like IBM, Dell or HP[E]. Their latest large layoff was Project RAPID mentioned in the article -- 50 very experienced people when their project was terminated. They will have no problem finding a job in the Austin area or within Oracle.
Also, Oracle prefers to hire from within. If any layoffs are coming, there are usually positions to choose from and stay.
That's something that can't be said of other companies.
Why don't people give Oracle the benefit of doubt -- at least in this case?
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