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?

 

Technorati Tags: leo apotheker,larry ellison,phyliss hamilton,bill mcdermott,boies,trial,lawsuit,copyright infringement,infringement,management,tomorrownow,pontifex maximus

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

Expensive dowry

 

Well, after the love-hate story, or eventual re-marriage between Dell and EMC will come with quite a dowry.

Good for the second-timer newlyweds, good for the sector, that has seen some optimism in the share value in general, and some more gossip to talk about, like all other weddings.

The matter with this dowry, however, is that despite benefitting Dell indirectly, it does not really empower them against HP, who already beat them at 3Par.

The big winner: EMC. Half winner, HP… and Dell weakens a bit, relatively speaking.

 

Technorati Tags: dell,michael dell,isilon,emc,hp,storage,M&A

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”.

Technorati Tags: larry ellison,leo apotheker,bill mcdermott,sap trial,oracle,hp,trial,lawsuit,phyllis hamilton,management,copyright,infringement,cromwell

A drop in the ocean

 

Despite how sound it may look, indeed it is a drop in the ocean. 9,000 HP Slate orders based on a pretty expensive device with a non-optimized OS does not really look impressive.

HP stated before, however, they would have this sort of product after the failure in formally launching it almost a year ago when plans to acquire Palm were already progressing in the Palo Alto based giant.

We actually think this is nothing but a token for HP to prove they are not (completely) dead yet in this segment, plus creating some buzz around what should be more linked to HP in the customers mindshare, WebOS that is. At the same time, HP probably might be legally tied to Microsoft in developing this kind of thing from the times in which Palm was not yet in HP’s radar screen.

So the news is not that much about bathroom-scale tsunamis, but about when HP will finally come up with something tangible in the tablet arena based on WebOS.

Everybody is going to have been there for a while when HP arrives, and the more time it takes for HP, the more difficult it will be for them to really make something remarkable.

The more HP remains with Microsoft, the more they will end like the two blind men in the Bible.

“so ignore them. They are blind guides leading the blind, and if one blind person guides another, they will both fall into a ditch.", Matthew 15:14.

The market will ignore them both.

Technorati Tags: hp,webos,tablet,microsoft,windows 7,windows mobile 7,slate,palm