Losers needed

 

Everybody likes a winner. In America, for example, “loser” is often used as an insult…

As well, and probably for the same reasons, everybody likes winning.

The problem with winners, however, is that to have a winner, you need losers. Winning is a relative situation. No losers mean no winners. When you win, you win against someone. Victory goes always at somebody else’s expense.

We have been wondering for a while about what is going between Oracle and HP. After the latest “victory” Oracle enjoyed, the well known trial against SAP for copyright infringement, which in fact involved indirectly HP through its current CEO Léo Apotheker, we have read about new aggressive arguments from Oracle’s Big Mouth Larry, aka the Pontifex Maximus at the oracle, targeting HP.

These last comments from the Pontifex indeed sound to us like a formal war declaration that finally comes up, after the de-facto war status so far, at least from the oracle’s side. Since the acquisition of Sun Microsystems by the latter, the once good partnership between Oracle and HP has degraded into a bitter relationship between the two companies that could mean in a closer relationship between HP and SAP, for example. SAP might really be all for it. As a matter of fact, we do believe this would be a logic step to take, and would certainly put a strong opponent in front of the Pontifex.

The Pontifex Maximus at the oracle, however, has a strong reputation after his manners, boastings and eventual bluffing. Not precisely an example of a New England British-like traditional gentleman, though effective and results-oriented. In fact, he is the real foundation of his company’s success. Personally, as well, he has fared pretty well, being considered the sixth richest man on earth. And the question remains open: Why HP in particular? What has this Pontifex Maximus against HP?

We do not have the full record of Oracle’s history, nor any insider information source. We don’t from HP either. But still, from the public information we might have had access to, we think we have an idea of what might be the reason.

Big Mouth Larry is probably no exception from the opening statements in this post. He loves winners, and he loves winning. Therefore, he sees any activity he steps into, anything he does, as a competition, as a battle, as a contest… that he ultimately has to win. To prove himself and the rest of the world he is a winner, and the world should love and admire him the same way he adores and admires himself.

Running his company is for him nothing different from any other kind of competition, and he takes it as something where he must win. He would not stand himself if he wouldn’t. Recall the way his PR is managing the fact that a cluster made of Sun Micro servers is the fastest one managing databases: They talk about this the same way they talk of the Oracle boat winning the America’s Cup.

And there is where the matter lies. To become a winner requires him to find a loser, Otherwise, there is no winner. So considering his options, there seem to be three possible opponents: Cisco, IBM, and HP. Cisco being the weakest, in reality it’s already behind Oracle.

Both IBM and HP are phenomenal references. IBM being the master company in the IT industry, a reference for decades, and HP being the largest IT company by revenue. But from the two, HP is weaker, compared to IBM, and certainly within range for Oracle’s artillery.

In other words, HP is a “beatable” foe in the eyes of Oracle, weak enough in certain areas, like software, and big enough for any victory on them to be regarded as brilliant. Beating HP would be a triumph the industry would recognize.

IBM would still be out of reach for Oracle. At least, farther than HP. And despite the Pontifex’ ultimate wish to beat them too, the guy is probably still intelligent enough to declare he does not intend to “tease them too much”. We do not think Oracle is not going after IBM because Big Mouth Larry likes IBM; we think he realizes he would probably not succeed if he tried, and wants not to appear as a loser should anybody think he wanted to fight IBM.

So the Pontifex is looking for losers to beat so he can feel recognition for his victories, so he can feel a winner. And HP’s problem with that is just being in range. That is, in our opinion, the underlying cause in the Pontifex’ fixation with HP. The risk now for the Pontifex, however is not really being able to make it. Having the speed record of database processing does not necessarily mean winning anything.

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Save your fireworks for the moment

 

After Hewlett-Packard posted its latest quarterly results and outlined next fiscal year expectations, there has been a general perception of HP willing to provide a “Thanksgiving gift” to its employees or issuing pay raises, and similar views.

Though arguably technically correct expressions, we do not really think Hewlett-Packard could consider this a gift or a pay raise.

Firstly, what Hewlett-Packard is going to do with salaries is just setting them back to the levels of early 2009, before Mark Hurd decided to slash them under the financial circumstances of that moment. This does not really seem and increase at all. Conceptually speaking, Hewlett-Packard was requesting support from its employees at that time, and putting salaries now right were they where is just returning the favor.

Secondly, it was only a portion of employees who were impacted by salary reductions in 2009. It’s only them who are going to have their wages repositioned. This is, obviously, not a pay raise.

Thirdly, HP will grant better funding for US employees social plans 401(K). True that HP is an American company… as true is that it has a lot of employees who are not working in the US nor for the US branches of Hewlett-Packard. Is this a general benefit for HP employees? We are afraid this goes only to employees based in the US.

Of course, we recognize a positive tone under after these news. But if we were an average HP employee, we would be cautious. These measures are not something to throw fireworks. In fact, as we said earlier in November, this somehow the least Hewlett-Packard should do for its employees, especially after the difficult times of 2009 are over. At least, according to Hewlett-Packard’s own results.

We still see two benefits for Hewlett-Packard after these measures:

On one hand, as Léo Apotheker was not at all responsible for those pay cuts in 2009, he will benefit from employees appreciation. He could have simply ignored the need to act as he has, demanding more time to think about it, as he has said when being asked for more details on his plans for the future. Even in the case he had done so, nobody would have been able to blame him for the pay cuts.

On the other, there might be some gains in the appreciation employees have for the company they work for. A more positive attitude from them would certainly turn into better performance, one way or another.

Overall, tone is OK… but we would recommend some skepticism for the time being. It probably is a bit too early, to quote Léo Apotheker himself.

 

 

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Unnecessary oracles

 

Long time ago, in the times of Ancient Greece, people consulted oracles to foresee the consequences of their acts, to know somehow the future in advance, and based many of their decisions upon the priest’s or priestess’ response to their queries.

It was the case of Croesos, King of Lydia, who asked the oracle at Delphi what would the outcome be should he attack the Persian Empire. The priestess at the oracle cryptically replied that if Croesos attacked the Persians, one mighty empire would be destroyed. Croesos, thinking she meant the Persians, certainly attacked. No wonder he thought that way: In anticipation to his question, he sent lavish presents to the oracle. The problem for Croesos was that the priestess was thinking of Lydia…

At that time, oracles were consulted even when answers were obvious. People believed the priests were in contact with the gods, and, no matter how obvious an answer could be, still they consulted the oracles, and donated huge treasures to get favorable responses.

Today, we would say oracles are not needed when consequences are obvious. Even if the priests still think they are so close to the gods that they are gods themselves.

And we believe Herr Apotheker, the missing pharmacist, probably thinks the same way…

 

 

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Staying in Moscow

 

When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941 the world held its breath. Millions of German soldiers crossed the border, and once again smashed whatever troops the enemy put up against them in a major demonstration of the new way of leading war. Blitzkrieg, they called it.

Soviet units fell one by one anywhere the Germans appeared. Encircled by the dozens, the Soviet divisions surrendered and marched to the POW (Prisoner of War) camps in the German rear, or were killed on the spot. The biggest Army by manpower, the red units lost men by the millions.

The Soviet High Command was a complete disaster. No coherent defensive strategy was in place. And worst of all, Stalin virtually disappeared. It seemed he did not want to face reality, the brutal German invasion. Lacking leadership, Soviet cities fell to the Germans, dashing like lightning towards Moscow.

Soon enough, the Soviet government withdrew eastward, beyond the Urals mountain range, in order to reset itself and try to resist somehow the monstrous German tide. All the cabinet fled. All but Stalin.

When Moscow was nearing the German assault, Stalin finally appeared, almost at the very last moment. He delivered to the people one of his propaganda masterpieces, setting the guidelines for Soviet resistance. He was there, he appeared in the very last moment, proved he had not given up, and Moscow did not fall. Probably the Soviet peoples will to resist and ultimately destroy Germany started there and then.

Quarterly financial numbers have a reasonably good expectation for HP. However, from a share perspective, the HP armies are still being beaten by the major cataclysm of Mark Hurd leaving the CEO job in early August.

While struggling in this entourage, HP’s strategy seems to be the very same one Hurd designed and left for his successor to inherit. And Wall Street is not buying it. The biggest army by revenue, its strategy to recover capitalization value was not there.

And its master leader, its CEO, has not publicly shown up three weeks after his official start date…

If History repeats itself, Léo Apotheker should pop up soon, and as the Soviet people did, the market will certainly need a propaganda masterpiece to spark recovery and confidence in putting HP where it should be from that very moment.

Show up before Moscow falls, Léo. The subpoena matter at the SAP trial is a smoke curtain. You can, you should, you ought to. 

 

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Swift cats

 

Indeed the “trial of the month” moves forward towards its closure. Peculiar trial, dressed with a lot of surrounding attrezzo, from the Pontifex Maximus at the Oracle’s (aka Big Mouth Larry) venomous invectives to all the assumptions made here and there of where all this will end.

There has certainly been a big unbalance between the relative importance of the heavy-weight witnesses presented by the two parts. From the Pontifex himself and co-President Katz from the Oracle to Bill McDermott and Werner Brandt for the Germans, the overall declarations have as well fallen short to expectations, and basically around their original positions: up to $4 billion according to the oracle, not more than $40 million offered by the Germans. And none of the parts have given in more than an inch from those positions.

One of the strongest witnesses from the oracle, however, has been co-President Katz, whose main argument was about rewarding bad behaviour of the Germans. Ironically enough, “Katz” is a German name derived form Katze, meaning cat…

“It’s like stealing a $2,000 watch, selling it for $20, and offering to pay the $20 back as compensation”, she’s declared.

The argument is indeed difficult to respond appropriately after a first thought. It might have made a strong impression in the jurors on behalf of the oracle. as a good finance expert, she has even mentioned figures in her example that are exactly proportional to the figures discussed in the trial. 2,000 is 100 times 20, ad $40 billion is exactly 100 times $40 million. Very, very, very smart from hers.

However, there is a subtle nuance that jurors and judge Phyllis Hamilton should take into account. If someone steals your $2,000 watch, indeed he is stripping you off $2,000. Downloading copyrighted material is basically making a copy of that material. And copying it is not stripping you off the value of that material. So the point is basically that illegally copying copyrighted material, SAP used it for its own benefit without really preventing the oracle from using it on their own. In other words, it’s like an athlete unfairly competing in a running race by using illegal drops that reduce the competitive advantage of a better honest runner.

And this id probably why the actual damages (only 358 customers switched from the oracle to TomorrowNow, according to information available online) have been so small compared to the theoretical potential.

Not denying that SAP behaved bad, the already settled amount of $120 for criminal charges, plus damage reparations of $40 really sounds reasonable in our ears., though this is just an opinion of ours, who do not claim at all any expertise in law matters.

What we really are impressed with is Katz’s rationale and argumentation… together with a much more senior and mature attitude than her boss’. Indeed swift, indeed smart, indeed subtle, and probably very powerful. No surprise she sits where she does at the oracle.

Hard and tough rival in the internal struggle for the Pontifex heritage you got there, Mark Hurd…

 

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Quest for blood

 

The Pontifex Maximus at the oracle is not really willing to give up in his quest for blood from SAP. He wanted Apotheker’s, who fundamentally has been ignoring the case and has probably made a new record in air mileage in the last days.

Having failed there, still they got a heavy-weight official today, Bill McDermott, SAP co-CEO. It looks as if the Pontifex will not give up without a sip. A sip from SAP, naturellement.

Bill McDermott has formally apologized. Yes he has, and this is very positive for him and for SAP.

However, the oracle’s lawyers have repeatedly insisted in knowing if blood was spilt after the case within SAP.

For God’s sake, what else do these guys want? What is the point? Does that really increase or reduce the guilt SAP has admitted and (now) even apologized for? Does that impact the damages SAP has offered to (reasonably) pay for?

As we said in a previous recent post, frankly, they are beating the Germans up too much, as President WIlson and his European allies did in 1919 with the Treaty of Versailles that ended WWI.

The Pontifex’ thirst seems pretty much like a vampire’s… Twilight’s Vulturi?

 

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Bad Germans

 

It has been reported that the priests and the Pontifex Maximus at the oracle might be about to wrap their case up in the known copyright trial against SAP.

I guess it was an easy job for them, for in a nutshell, their summary is probably very similar to the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, which ended World War I.

As in that occasion, the message looks like:

Point One: The Germans are bad. The bill is $1.6 billion.

Point Two: The Germans are veeeeeeeeeeeeeery baaaaaaaaaaaaad. The bill is $1.6 billion.

Point Three: In case of doubt, please review previous Points One and Two. And the bill, in case of doubt, is $1.6 billion.

Very convenient and timely, as Germany recently finished WWI reparation payments, and therefore they are fresh for paying. $1.6 billion, should we have failed in hinting the bill.

Technorati Tags: sap,oracle ceo,hp,trial,lawsuit,larry ellison,bill mcdermott,leo apotheker,phyllis hamilton,tomorrownow

In the bowels of the oracle

 

In order to preserve his anti-monarchist ideas, Oliver Crowell invaded Scotland around 1650. One of the parties whose support he tried to get to his side was the Scottish Church, which eventually had some sympathy for recently crowned King Charles II.

Stubborn Presbyterians, the Scots were difficult to convince, and insisted in their position. Oliver Cromwell gave a famous appeal in an all-out attempt to make the Scots realize the wrong in their support to monarchy. “I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you might be mistaken”.

As the third week for the trail between Oracle and SAP starts, we realize on our side that the Pontifex Maximus, aka Big Mouth Larry, does not seem to give in an inch on his strategy, and once more he insists in justifying his monetary demands on the level of guilt he tries to prove on SAP officials.

With Léo Apotheker fundamentally ignoring the case and wandering around the world, the next biggie on the stand will be Bill McDermott, co-CEO at SAP.

Again, out stubborn Pontifex insists in a useless strategy, as after having admitted guilt, the point is not how criminal SAP could have been, but more determining the size of the damage that SAP caused the oracle. Whatever SAP officials say, this won’t really increase nor diminish guilt at SAP. It’s the value of the damage what matters, as clearly Judge Phyllis Hamilton has understood and instructed jurors to consider.

If Big Mouth Larry has any true friends, one of them should speak up to him and, trying to help him getting rid of his stubbornness, “beseech him, in the bowels of the oracles, think it possible he might be mistaken”.

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Memento mori

 

One of the most important celebrations and rites in ancient Rome were the Triumphs. These were ceremonies granted to victorious generals after a successful campaign against an enemy of equal status to theirs. Triumphs, therefore, had no sense when a military campaign was against a slave revolt, for example.

These celebrations were structured around a big military parade which included the victorious general leading his actual troops, treasures and spoils form battle captured to enemy, and enemy leaders too, who were later to be executed in different ways. Celebrations as well included public games and shows, big banquets paid for by the triumphant general, and could eventually last several days.

It was the glory day for the general, who got all the privileges and attention form the whole city of Rome. He was the man of the day, certainly, and not even the Consuls could defy the general’s authority during the triumph.

Military was important for the Romans at that time, and several important Consuls got the job precisely after having succeeded in battle: Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, Julius Caesar, Gaius Marius, Lucius Sulla are good examples, representatives of the top class in the most glorious times of the Roman Republic.

It is said that human beings can live about 40 days without eating, and may survive about 10 days without water, but not more than 10 minutes without some sort of flattering. Aware of this, and with the intention to limit the triumphant general’s self ambitions, custom set that the triumphant general carried behind him in his very chariot a slave who was instructed to whisper regularly in the general’s ear “Remember, sir, that you are still a mortal”…

For more than fifteen years the Microsoft Legions have mastered the IT world like old Romans did in the known world of the time. For fifteen years they have rallied the world with all types of celebrations and triumphal parades. For fifteen years the “Pax Microsoftiana” has set the foundations of the industry.

But it seems the beginning of the end f the world as Microsoft conceived it might not be far from now, and it looks like Gates, Ballmer and their General Staffs have missed the words from the slaves they should have carried in their war chariots in their triumphs, if they ever thought of carrying them.

With their empire seriously threatened, as the Roman one was by the barbarian hordes coming from the North, now they begin to realize that they should have reacted years ago. “We missed the whole cycle”, Big Ape states. Well, more than one big cycle, we’d say. Too comfortable in its own complacency, Microsoft failed to understand there was life beyond their company, and clearly intelligent one.

Still a heavy tanker, though, relying more in the cost of change that their installed base may not be able to afford than in real innovation, it won’t clearly sink fast and easy. Like the Roman Empire, it will fall at one  point in time, though still its heritage might influence their conquerors latently, as Roman culture did since its fall up to this day.

But certainly more in the road to past

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History than in the way to the future.

Huff and Puff

 

… said the Big Bad Wolf… But this time it was the brick house.

We are afraid the Pontifex Maximus’ bluff was just that. A bluff.

Where is the evidence, Big Mouth Larry? Whose credibility is now at the stake?

You have live long enough to have learnt the closer you get to the fire, the more you get burnt, Pontifex.

 

Technorati Tags: sap,larry ellison,leo apotheker,hp,tomorrownow,trial,lawsuit,phyllis hamilton,oracle,safra katz,management,copyright infringement

Google dixit

 

Google dixit, indeed, though we would say they fall short.

Probably Marissa Meyer went further and elaborated more, or eventually was cut short because of timing reasons and she was only allowed a tagline that she tried to summarize as much as she could.

Not only what the guy has done, but as well whatever is yet to come, as it is unthinkable to figure Apple out without him, not thinkable it is to imagine him without Apple. Not cancer nor a liver transplant have been enough to cut the link between the two, and cut was the link voluntarily, under much more favorable circumstances, between Microsoft and Billy Gates.

There is a fantastic recognition Google, by the way, already made to Steve Jobs, which is tempting him to serve as their CEO.

However, the best recognition is not told, yet obvious to those who have further vision: Google de facto tries to copy Apple. Just look at Android…

We stand up and applaud, first to Google for their comments, then to Steve Jobs, for though we compared him already to Sun-Tzu and Clausewitz, after thinking it twice, we should say he went even further. The formers were great theoreticians on strategy. Jobs moved beyond, and executed his strategy too.

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Larry San & Lieutenant Apotheker

 

Cio-Cio San was her name. The teenage geisha who broke with her culture, family and traditions to engage and marry Lieutenant Pinkerton, an American naval officer assigned to Japan in the late 19th Century. Called back to duty in the US, he disappeared for a while, leaving poor Cio-Cio longing for his return.

At least this is the story that the arch-famous opera by Puccini depicts.

We believe the Pontifex Maximus at the oracle, aka Big Mouth Larry has been as much as Cio-Cio San craving for Apotheker. At least this is the story we conclude after the arch-famous tune by him in the press.

But Lt. Apotheker was, effectively, called to duty in the US when hired as new CEO for HP, and poor Larry San could only wait and hope.

Like in Puccini’s tragedy, finally Lt. Apoteheker has shown up in Japan… and like in Puccini’s opera, still this won’t avoid a tragic ending, we think.

Technorati Tags: apotheker,larry ellison,sap,trial,oracle,management,lawsuit,puccini,opera,madama butterfly

Incidentally, we would like to mention the irony behind having Lt. Apotheker popping up precisely in the country of the rising SUN… Small, but still some consolation for Larry-San though.

Commie Pontifex

 

While World War I was at its peak, say 1917, the Soviet Revolution led by Vladimir Lenin was as well about to succeed. Lenin’s plans were based on support form people’s masses and organizations, one of the biggest and most important being, of course, the Army. As the Army was engaged at war, mainly against the German Empire of the time, Lenin desperately needed to withdraw Russia from the war at any cost, surrendering it needed. What actually happened thanks to Lenin’s propaganda skills. Russia surrendered to the German Armies, which were in fact occupying part of the Russian Empire territory, signed the Brest-Litovsk Agreement, and went home.

In order to get the Russian Army quit the war and join his ranks, Lenin mastered a convincing motto: "(World War I) is a war waged between German capital against Anglo-French capital but fought by workers”. He basically was calling Russian soldiers to disengage from a cause that was not theirs.

As the Russian commoner enlisted in the Imperial Army of Czar Nicholas Romanov was indeed from humble extraction and relatively fed up with the Romanov aristocracy, it was relatively easy for Lenin to succeed. The Russian High Command found itself with an unexpected enemy rising from inside that ultimately led to a dramatic defeat and an endless suffering of the people for decades. The Russian Army turned from fighting Germany to fighting local aristocracy. In other words, from fighting the technical and theoretical enemy (the Germans) to fighting a closer one which could be seen as more directly responsible of their suffering and poverty, ie their own aristocrats and landlords.

So the war against Germany was “technically” correct, but too high-level and far a concept. Russian soldiers where inflamed by Lenin to think shorter and focus on matters closer to them, to their daily lives.

If we think about an average juror serving at the Oracle-SAP trial, one thing we could consider is the actual way he might think. After all, an average juror is very much like an average citizen. They are on fixed income or salary, they have average rents… they are in fact far from the glamour and high standards of billionaires fighting about billionaire figures that are simply too big to fit in an average citizen’s mind. The numbers and figures talked during trials are way out of reach and beyond possibilities and imagination of average citizens. Therefore, even if legal argumentations could be technically correct, it’s fairly likely that a juror may think that this is a war waged by billionaires that just want to increase their obscene fortunes, but fought by regular employees.

Winning an jury trial is about winning the minds of jurors. It’s not about convincing experts, lawyers, technicians. And we think this is what probably Big Mouth Larry, Pontifex Maximus at the oracle, was aiming to when delivering the messaging he did in his testimonials on Monday. A technically correct argumentation, supported by Safra Catz’ moderate position, with the personal touch about the salaries of 100,000 families.

Now, for an average juror, all this sympathetic touch said by the guy owning the 6th biggest fortune in the world, the guy that spends thousands of dollars a day to sustain his standards of living, that affords teaming with other millionaires to yacht around the world, might sound a bit hypocritical. If the salary of 100,000 Oracle employees depended on the $4 billion Oracle is demanded on SAP and the Pontifex Maximus is so concerned with that, what the heck prevents him to spare $4 bn from his personal fortune to cover the problem? Wouldn’t he recover it sooner than later, so successful a businessman he is at Oracle?

We think that for the moment, Oracle’s strategy, technically correct from certain aspects, has missed completely the main target, which is winning for themselves the jurors minds and favor. It probably has not been the best choice to get the Pontifex to deliver the first heavy artillery blows, and they have missed who they need to convince. The battle’s not about technicalities that, by the way, fail to have documented support. It’s about convincing commoners about their cause being fair.

We understand it can be really difficult for a billionaire to think commie, but a commander at war should not forget considering the battlefield (ie jurors’ minds) specificities when planning battle. And, yes, Pontifex Maximus: This is something your dear Sun Tzu wrote.

 

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A tantalised Pontifex

 

It looks that Big Mouth Larry is seriously taking the challenge we suggested him some days ago.

As a matter of fact, he’s paid for some private investigations to find out the pharmacist’s whereabouts. Well, this sort of game is supposed to be carried out individually. Come on, Big Mouth, it’s no fun if someone else tells you where Léo is and you do not find out yourself… unless you tell us that instead of tennis, you are playing this with your friend Mark. Oh, yes, Mark has some experience in private investigations indeed, doesn’t he?

Yet we are puzzled about the point he’d want to prove. Assuming for a minute he found out the guy is anywhere out of legal reach to force him to serve the subpoena at the trial the oracle is waging against SAP, if Law can not grab him, it is absolutely useless. Sounds a bit paranoid, in our opinion.

So Big Mouth Larry, aka The Pontifex Maximus at the oracle, would be punished for his paranoia by knowing where the guy is, but not really being able to grab him, like poor old Tantalus, condemned by the Gods to starve in Hades below a rich fruit tree that raised it’s branches as soon as Tantalus tried to grasp any throughout eternity… which, for us at least, seems to be a heck of a long time, incidentally.

Technorati Tags: HP Board,Apotheker,Phyllis Hamilton,trial,lawsuit,management,oracle,sap,tomorrownow,pontifex maximus,hp,larry ellison

Sultans of suing

 

We are sure that if we mentioned Dire Straits, every body would recall its unique style, mainly driven by lead singer and composer, Mark Knopfler. Some people consider him the best guitar player ever, and his live performances all over the world are memorable. Sultans od Swing, Tunnel of Love, Telegraph Road, Gold…Many hits come to our minds, but from them all, it is the famous duet with Sting, Money for Nothing, what draws our attention more, together with Private Investigations.

Buzz around another Mark comes back. The Mark Hurd again has bounced up again in the press, as some additional documentation around the fishy Fisher has come to light. Beyond an inappropriate relationship between hard Hurd and fishy Fisher, it looks as if hard Hurd disclosed confidential information to the latter. So fishy Fisher seems to be getting a second 15 minutes of glory Andy Warhol said everybody deserved. However, being represented by the famous attorney Gloria Allred, it appears to us that fishy Fisher has had to devote many more than a mere 15 minutes to the “Gloria” to just get again 15 minutes of “glory”… Not sure this is a good ROI, frankly.

As it is already well known by those who have followed the case, hard Hurd settled private whatever issue fishy Fisher had with him. This happened before he was fired by the HP Board, and likely was one of the mean reasons precisely to lose trust in the guy, and ultimately show him the door. The private settlement included an undisclosed amount of dollars to be paid by hard Hurd to fishy Fisher, cost which simply adds up to all other costs hard Hurd has had (including the intangible impact on his family and reputation) for not having thought it twice before behaving like a hormonally unbalanced chimpanzee during mating seasons.

Although Big Mouth Larry quickly came to the rescue, and saved for him the match ball against hard Hurd, we would still question if all the cost he’s taken was really worth it. Is hard Hurd any better personally and professionally than he was at the time in which praise and success were a constant in his service record?

Again that “Money for Nothing” tune in our heads, as we recall part of its lyrics: “Money for nothing, and your chicks for free…” Indeed the private settlement was something hard Hurd was perfectly ready to afford, and certainly big money for fishy Fisher. Certainly “money for nothing” for hard Hurd, given the ROI he got, though this time the chick was not for free precisely, was she?

After all the “private investigations” after the affair, maybe Mark (Knopfler) could eventually consider legal action against Mark (hard Hurd) for copyright infringement by the latter. Private Investigations and Money for Nothing have been in billboards and hitlists for years already. Just to keep lawyers busy, you know, as suing is starting to become a tradition for hard Hurd, we’d say.

By the way, if Knopfler really gets to legal matter, he could as well include copyright infringement about Sultans of Swing. At the end of the day, hard Hurd is really becoming one of the Sultans of “Suing” lately. True or not?

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The apple of their eye

We are used to having heard about the power of Bill Gates and Microsoft for years as much as used we are to reading about that man being one of the richest people on earth. We have seen charts and figures where Microsoft’s income proves larger than small countries’ gross national product.
For once we have seen that a fellow colleague in his industry has overtaken him as to power. Steve Jobs has been rated as more powerful than good ol’ Billy.
Not questioning at all the author’s argumentation, which we fundamentally agree with, we prefer to see this from a different angle, other than historical achievements or financial metrics.
Jobs has succeeded in engaging youth. Youth of today starts being the basis for customers of the future. Apple’s fresh, Apple’s new, Apple’s fun. Apple’s cool, in short. Lot’s of customer touch points, from PCs to TV, from music to movies. Even small kids are starting to get familiar to the “there’s an app for that” slogan.

indeed…

Microsoft is huge, large, dominates market segments, but… it’s a slow dinosaur claiming more the “me too” story and basically a follower. A losing follower for whom the gap with Apple broadens every day. Just consider Microsoft’s latest: Windows Phone 7, same old story, nothing really new, is it? What the heck can you do with WP7 that you cannot already do, and probably in a better way, with IOS4, Android or even Blackberry?
Precisely this is in our opinion one of the big sandbags Microsoft. This company is fundamentally based on legacy coming from a dominant position it used to have for decades, and at some extent still enjoys for the time being. For them, what they call innovation is what we would call patching and re-patching the same old core, like those unending “system updates” or “service packs” that may block your PC or your mobile phone for hours, just to catch up with things other computers do.
Once their dominant position was taken, they just slept on their own complacency, expecting the scene not to change ever again. Like an old Confucian philosopher that once happened to see a rabbit smash itself against a tree stump and made his lunch for the day, he waited and waited ever since in front of the same stump until he died from starvation, hoping that if one rabbit once smashed against the stump, why should not another one?
And the characters define companies. While Steve Jobs could never be separated from Apple as his alter ego, but surgically, and even after serious health problems he cared to continue his leadership, Bill Gates retired as if he did not really need to do anything more for his company.
And, by the way, leaving the powerful Microsoft in the hands of an insane pathetic baboon does not really seem to be the best choice if he really cared about his company. Just check this out…

Is this what being a billionaire might turn you into?

is this a way to engage youth? Is this sad copy of pop stars youngsters adore the way Microsoft expects to create trends and fashion? Because Apple certainly does. People wait hours for dining in a fancy restaurant, and pay fortunes to wear the same dress whoever celebrity you want to mention. Who waits for hours before stores open to buy Microsoft’s latest device or software? Who will pay a price premium to get something by Microsoft instead of Android, Blackberry or iWhatever?
And why this last difference? Fundamentally their management styles: While the middle aged baboon pretends he is a Jonas Brother and 40 years younger, Apple’s convince passionately the audience about what they do. Just look to the video.

Genuine gentlemen.

Notice the difference: The baboon “loves this company”. Jobs and staff love the things they do. The message is clear. What the baboon really loves is the obscene dollar amounts he is able to bleed from his company, where he probably reached the top spot just by chance. By the way, the guy should use some of those dollars to cover up a bit his serious transpiration issues and make sure he has a cardiologist with him when he behaves in public a way normal people wouldn’t allow their teen age kids.
Apple toppers focus on what their products do, and how they do those things.
Ironically enough, Steve Jobs has been accused of being arrogant… If arrogance is being proud of a product well done, I wish more CEOs had such arrogance. On the negative aspect of arrogance, however, isn’t it much bigger the one demonstrated by the Great Ape? At the end of the day, if we were supposed to get excited by listening to Big Ape, it would mean we should consider ourselves less than him. Inferior, in other words. Ballmer’s audience is the community of Microsoft employees, who are not really realizing that what Ballmer is really telling them is “you guys have to work like apes to make sure the money you suck from customers continues flowing all the way to my bank account; and, by the way, if you see my sweat, keep in mind this is nothing compared to the sweat I am going to squeeze out of you”. Where’s arrogance then?
If Gates, or, for the matter, Microsoft, were more powerful than Apple (or Jobs for the matter), why would Microsoft rush to open store just across the street from Apple’s? Why would Microsoft poorly imitate Apple’s?
Just incidentally… we said one of the basic points at the beginning of this post spoke about winning youth…
A sample about daily life use of today’s technologies. If you look to the logo in the laptop, or if you just check the name of the TV series (quite popular by the way), there is not much more to say, but our hope that there is no further joke in choosing precisely “Carly” as the name of the main character in an attempt to play some sarcasm on former HP CEO Fiorina, who recently got one of the worst ROIs in her personal performance against republican senator Boxer, we heard.

Nice sense of humour…

Not really sure that Jobs is the apple of their eye to Gates & Pals, but we would certainly recommend them to keep an eye on that Apple and begin to learn something. Good manners to start with, we’d advise Big Ape in particular.

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Caesar’s wife

 

Before becoming Consul of Rome, Julius Caesar was appointed Pontifex Maximus. He was appointed head of state religion. At that time, he was married to Pompeia, granddaughter of former dictator Cornelius Sulla. Thus, Pompeia was the head of state religion too, at least in matters related to women, in those years. Pompeia was Caesar’s second wife.

Some time after Caesar’s appointment to the job, Pompeia, as his wife, hosted the Festival of the “Bona Dea” (“the Good Goddess""), only for women attendance, to which men were forbidden to participate.

One of the start up politicians of the time, Publius Clodius Pulcher, disguised himself as a woman and entered the venue, apparently with the intention of seducing Mrs Caesar.

Not really producing any evidence of any wrongdoing, the episode was seized by Julius to demand divorce from Pompeia under the argumentation that “my wife ought not even to be under suspicion”. The real reason behind this break up and divorce were much more political, as politics of the time was mainly driven by family relationships worked out by marriages. Caesar was already deep into politics by that time. Historians strongly suggest he already had his next marriage (ie political alliance) in mind in his quest for power.

We have read the recent article in Fortune which analyses more in depth the story behind Mark Hurd ’s departure from HP a few months ago. Quite detailed and thorough.

Detailed enough to imagine a nice story.

In a given point in time, after having divorced its previous companion, the HP Board married Mark Hurd as the new CEO. In a certain point in time, Mark decided to have Festivals with other top executives from potential customers. Of course, those festivals were very exclusive, discreet, and reserved for the attendance of VIPs only.

A relatively unknown would-be starlet, Jodie Fisher, was hired by HP so as to greet guests to those festivals, and eventually supervise Mark’s agenda, ensuring he spent enough quality time with each person in the festival. Necessarily she herself spent a lot of time with Mark, with or without witnesses.

Not really producing any evidence of any violation of HP’s harassment policy, the episode was seized by the board to demand divorce from Mark… pity the HP PR spokespeople failed to make the historical parallelism. It would have been fun.

Still, though HP was not totally clear about the story, probably in the hope of letting it pass as fast as possible, smart journalists like those at Fortune open the door to details. A mere matter of trust, we may conclude after reading his article. The HP Board lost trust in Mark, even beofre anybody else did, even with no proof nor evidence at that time.

We agree that for any company, its CEO “ought not even to be under suspicion”. They in fact are an asset of the company they work for, aren’t they?

There is still, however, an interesting open question after the story. As the Festival’s episode was an excuse for Caesar to divorce Pompeia, a necessary step in his political career and quest for power, were there any quests for power behind the ousting of Hurd? We have no idea, but it would be interesting, in our opinion, to investigate a bit the likely candidates to marry the HP Boards at the time, and like enchanted frogs or toads, transform themselves into princesses or princes.

Technorati Tags: Mark Hurd,Carly Fiorina,HP,HP Way,Ray Lane,HP CEO,Management

 

A question of honor

 

Despite the sound title for this post, unfortunately we are not talking here about the known song by Sarah Brightman, are we? Wonderful performance in Las Vegas a few years ago, highly recommended to those who might appreciate good music.

No show in Las Vegas, but a bit further westward, we are afraid… up to Oakland, as readers do probably expect.

Despite SAP accepting to pay for the attorney’s fees nothing less that $120 million, jurors still have to determine the cost of damages to be paid to the oracle. At the moment, the oracle is claiming about $2.3 billion.

Today we got former Oracle’s President Charles Phillips testifying. Two highlights from his words today.

First, we has declared that the oracle’s software licensing would have been charged to SAP for a fee ranging from $3 to $4 billion. Other sources up that figure to $5 billion, but we will stick to Reuters. Well, we are certainly no experts in software fees, but even in the case that TomorrowNow’s full plan to take customers from the oracle’s had completely succeeded, it seems quite an unreasonable figure. We are not sure at all that the oracle would have had equivalent revenue for all those customers. Still, Mr. Phillips played the role he was expected to as a former top executive at the oracle, and the figure was thrown in to justify the $2.3 billion claim, and even make it look reasonable in front of jurors.

Second, and most important in our opinion, we would like to highlight the actual words by our Testosterone Champion: "There's sort of an honor among warriors here that we can compete fiercely, but we don't take each other's software," Phillips said.

Oh, puh-leeeze...!!!!!!!

In a gentlemen’s atmosphere, Testosterone Champion’s (TC for short) words would have been very welcome, would not have drawn any attention, and would have been understood as utterly polite. But since the beginning of the friction between the two software titans, back in 2007, we would not precisely compare it to a gentlemen’s duel in the times of Louis XIV, would we? Big Mouth

Technorati Tags: Phyllis Hamilton,Leo Apotheker,Larry Ellison,Charles Phillips,Mark Hurd,HP CEO,SAP,Oracle,Tomorrownow,lawsuit,management,court,trial

Larry’s corroding and aggressive words, to begin with, followed by all the documents and evidence that has been published so far.

If we review TC’s  relatively recent past, it does not really look that the word “honor” is something he has not had to look up carefully before declaring anything today. More than 8 years in an extra-marital affair, and his move to IBM ally Infor (while all the buzz around Mark Hurd to the oracle’s and so forth) do not precisely prove he’s ever known what “honor” really means.

We do not take each other’s software, but we may take ourselves to hang around for years with women other than our own wife, or we eventually take Oracle’s confidential info and use it at Infor?

We do not really believe people are made of two personalities, one of which develops at work the other one at home. When we talk about individuals, we are basically talking of single entities that will basically behave the same way in either scenario. So if you betray your family, which should be sacred for you, are you telling me you will be able to keep loyal to a company that just pays you a salary, no matter how big, should the occasion arise? We are afraid we will not swallow that one, TC…

Maybe Apotheker was not the best choice for HP, and maybe Apotheker is not really the right witness to call, but TC is surely not the best example to preach “honor”, as Mark Hurd was not either a paradigm of the Standards of Business Conduct he preached for years at HP.

 

Questions? Ask Mark

 

The Chosen One has apparently declined to attend the oracle’s party… Too bad, we think.

People have a remarkable tendency to talk about famous individuals and celebrities, particularly if the gossip around is not related to an immaculate reputation. Mass media are made by people, and addressing people. They are not an exception. And if someone with the fame and reputation of Big Mouth Larry finger points someone in particular, that person is ultimately screwed.

HP is claiming that the Chosen One would be getting distracted from his new duties as CEO. Well, a guy born in Germany, educated in Israel, living in France, now moving to California, having been able to reach the CEO job at SAP, enjoying a team of executive assistants and backed by smart people leading the different businesses HP is made of, speaking five languages (one of them German, another one Hebrew, which is written “backwards”) can live with that for a few weeks, we think.

HP’s argument sounds weak. And a poor defense is sometimes equivalent to a strong offensive from the enemy. A weak defense is just providing ammunition to the Pontifex Maximus. Not showing up defaults to the Pontifex being right, and unwillingness to assume responsibilities after having left his former employer. We agree the Pontifex is not really proving elegant at all, and his style matches, in our opinion, much more the one you see in Gangs of New York than an educated discussion. But precisely for that, we would not advise to give a poor excuse to stay off.

If the Chosen One is innocent, he should actually leverage the opportunity to demonstrate his innocence, particularly in a case like this one, where Big Mouth Larry is providing a hell lot of free publicity.

Standing up as well can have the total opposite effect than the one insistently sought by the Pontifex Maximus: Strong leadership and principles. Something that, by the way, HP badly needs. If the Chosen One wants to show he cares for his new company, he should think of his reputation as an asset he is not the sole and single owner of. His reputation and his style is as well an asset of whatever company he works for in a given point in time.

Keeping the cleanest possible reputation is, therefore, something he accepted owing to his employer and his fellow employees since the moment he signed his contract and assumed responsibility. Step up, Léo. You are obliged to do so to yourself, your family, your business partners, your customers and, of course, the employees you lead. In case you had questions, Léo, you can always give Mark Hurd a call about the topic.

  

 

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Technorati Tags: apotheker,phyllis hamilton,lawsuit,trial,larry ellison,management,hp way,hp,oracle,ceo,sap,tomorrownow,copyright

Appeasement does not win wars

 

In 1938, Sir Neville Chamberlain, British Prime Minister, together with Edouard Daladier, French Premier, met with Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini in Munich, to discuss upon German demands prior to what later would become World War II. The agreement they came up with after a few days was reported by the British politician as “The Peace of Our Time”.

Basically, what the two Western representatives had done was giving in to every demand from the Germans. The main issue at the stake was the partition of Czechoslovakia, and, shamefully enough, the Czech representatives were not even allowed to participate in the meetings.

Sir Neville came back with a feeling of triumph that was as well backed by the majority of Great Britain. He was in fact welcome as almost a hero. The savior of peace.

you can read appeasement in his face…

Chamberlain’s future successor, Sir Winston Churchill, knew better. In a speech in the House of Commons, he regarded the agreement as a total defeat: “We have suffered a total and unmitigated defeat”, said he. He foresaw the consequences of the agreement. Most Historians actually cite the Munich Pact as the peak in the disastrous Appeasement Policy led by British and French governments. About one year after it had been signed, the world was at war.

Today it has been announced that SAP has agreed to pay for legal costs after the TomorrowNow trial. We talk of $120 million, which is not a small quantity just for legal expenses and fees. Consistent with SAP’s non-contest position, it could be imagined that SAP attorneys are trying to show goodwill after they admitted formally long ago they played inappropriate practices. As a side effect, they may be seeking to placate the beast they have in front of them, Big Mouth Larry, Pontifex Maximus from the oracle, and eventually get a better conclusion at the end of the trial.

Because it has to be well understood that these $120 million are just that: Legal costs. Nothing to do with the $2 billion the Pontifex demands upon business damages. That is precisely what the trial is about. And, at the moment, the Pontifex has not given in an inch in that demand, despite taking the $120 million, of course, like Germany did not change its plans after having got the Western approval for annexing the Sudetenland in 1938.

We will see on Friday, when the Pontifex is supposed to step in full majesty and glory into Court. Incidentally we should mention that he will as well have the advantage of having known about a theoretical deposition by Apotheker on previous Thursday. We are not sure about the benefits of not appearing personally.

We are not sure that SAP and Apotheker are 100% aware of what is going on. Appeasement might work when the ultimate objective of both parties is to prevent war, when war is more a threat than a really likely possibility. And as far as we know, we truly believe the oracle has set for aggressive war. Consciously giving in, as the Russians did in 1812 against Napoleon and 200 years later against the Germans, does only make sense if you simultaneously devastate the territory you give up. Certainly appeasement won’t help at all if your way of appeasement includes a $120 million cheque.

Appeasers do not win wars.

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