Ce-Oh no he didn't!: Larry Ellison likens HP board to 'idiots' at Apple
By Vlad Savov 
posted August 10th 2010 4:45AM
posted August 10th 2010 4:45AM
The communique, also obtained by the Mercury News, included other tasty tidbits such as Ellison describing HP's disclosure of the apparently unfounded sexual harassment claim against Hurd as "cowardly corporate political correctness," and dismissing the financial irregularities that forced the former CEO's resignation as "petty expenses report errors." So, in short, the world according to Larry is populated by messianic CEOs who shouldn't be held up to the same petty standards as the rest of us."The H.P. board just made the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs many years ago. That decision nearly destroyed Apple and would have if Steve hadn't come back and saved them."
Ooops
@koolerz1569 oh yes he did!
@koolerz1569 I don't see what the problem is, as someone richer than us he is entitled to a different moral code. At least, that's what I've been told from those richer than me.
...wait a minute.
@koolerz1569 If he's the Oracle Ceo shouldn't he have seen this coming in the future and tell HP's CEO he was going to get fired?
@notbuttershift1
D'Oh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@koolerz1569
Thats a potentially misleading/confusing headline. Shame! shame!
@liftedngifted1
No, but you can bend a spoon with your mind in his office.
Oh, and don't worry about the vase.
@krische
I don't get the big deal? They are idiots..
@BerkleyBerkley2011 what are you then?
@tommalota
I think you mean "CE-D'OH!"
@koolerz1569 Larry and Steve have been bosom buddies for decades, so it's not surprising to hear him compare the HP drama to Steve's ouster.
It is a little disappointing whenever people assert that nobody else was involved with saving Apple. If it weren't for the efforts of Gil Amelio to get the ship turned around (and patched up), Steve wouldn't have had anything to sail forward as the new captain.
@F C
I agree! Talk about click-bait. He said the idiots at the Apple "board", not idiots at Apple in general, which is completely different. For shame indeed, Engadget. You are pulling National Enquirer crap.
@koolerz1569
I'm glad he called them out. Whether it's true or not these CEO types needs a little humbling every now and again.
@koolerz1569 : Bros before Ce-Ohs
@angelusp
Clearly evidenced by the fact he sucks with PR and relating to or understanding people in the last few months. Might be great with tech but damn let someone else at Apple do PR and marketing.
@koolerz1569
What he said is a lot less sensationalist than the title. Talk about a whole lot of nothing. But congratulations, you got me to click. This time.
@notbuttershift1 As "Jack" in 30 rock once said: hey, I'm rich, rich 50 is like middle class 30, I can totally hit on those chicks.
So they were right all along. :)
@aubreyq
And the Apple board from 1985, no less!
The difference between Larry Ellison and God: God doesn't think he's Larry Ellison.
@Ellison "The H.P. board just made the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs many years ago"
Let's do a quick comparison shall we:
Hurd fired well over 25,000 employees, cut salaries while retaining his own via the corporate compensation culture, was a graduate in business studies and worked at NCR for 25 years with business IT equipment - the shoddy POS machines that you see in stores at the checkout.
Jobs studied creative arts (which he used to develop into the fundamental typography you use every day on the computer), dropped out to co-found a company on his own and turned it into a billion-dollar company with jobs for thousands of people, got kicked out by corporate wankers (though deservedly). Founded another two companies - Pixar by purchasing a small graphics division from LucasArts with his own money and NeXT, whose operating system far outclassed Windows, Linux or the Mac OS back in the day. Apple floundered without him and bought NeXT, which brought him back to Apple, which he has helped turn into one of the most profitable companies on the planet with over $45 billion in cash reserves and overseen production of 3 of the most iconic technology developments in history - the all-in-one iMac, the iPod and the touch screen iPhone as well as one of the best operating systems. Not by firing people but by excelling at what they do and expecting people to pay a premium for it. And he works for $1.
Now can someone please explain to me how in the FUCK these people are anything alike?
Hurd won't be missed and certainly wouldn't be welcomed back the way Jobs was if he returned and for good reason.
Steve Jobs sure did save Apple some years ago but now i think its opposite...
@2her0ck how could you come off with such an idiotic statement when Apple are one of the biggest tech companies around and continuing to grow exponentially??? this based on the iphone4's antenna problem? the same problem that doesnt seem to be hampering the sales of said phone one bit...
@2her0ck
Apple shareholders think you are wrong.
@2her0ck FAIL
@2her0ck
Wow, seems Larry Ellison isn't the only idiot spouting crap on this page...
@2her0ck
Look around you, people who don't even understand the nitty gritty stuff about technology, know how to use mac os x, or ios, can you even try to understand that slide that steve put up about being at the center of technology and liberal arts??? You don't have to be a tech geek to use their products, that is why they are so successful, the appeal to the whole crowd.
@2her0ck
insightful, you should start a blog.
@2her0ck
hi. this is not about apple. please stop talking about apple...
@2her0ck wow ok so since six people decided to tell this guy how much of an idiot he is, I guess someone should help him. Obviously he was talking about the whole antenna-gate issue and how Steve has made Apple somewhat authoritarian in their handling of their products (flash, app store, etc.). Maybe it wasn't the best analysis, but he doesn't deserve that much ridicule. A simple "maybe recent events will cause people to lose some confidence in Jobs' handling of situations, but I think he still has the ability to take Apple further than where it currently is" would have sufficed.
@notbuttershift1
No, he told a lie. On the internet. The internet can never lie and so he must be punished and his lies rectified.
Now, bite my shiny metal ass!
@majipoor Yes, I'm one of them and I totally do.
@2her0ck he saved them cause he fucked them up they fired him and he came back with the ipod
@2her0ck
I sure did go to English school some years ago but now i think its opposite.
@Bongo123
"continuing to grow exponentially"
Any idea what an exponential is?
@notbuttershift1
He does deserve that much ridicule, and he is an idiot.
@HKCally
Any idea what hyperbole is?
@Hell Angel I am amazing with computers and the interweb but I still can't figure out Mac OS. It takes "special people" and "little people" to work a Mac.
@2her0ck The Apple fanboys are coming out of the woodwork.
Many people, myself included, were disappointed with the way Jobs handled the iPhone 4 antenna situation: with mudslinging and passing blame.
@cypherx82
Your 2nd post here was telling us how much you dislike Apple products.
I'm sorry you were so disappointed by Steve, seeing as how you had no intention of ever buying an Iphone anyway.
@rollingwave Special people and little people? What are you talking about? You aren't "amazing with computers" if you can't figure out the minimalistic GUI atop Unix that is OS X. I recommend playing with many distros, window managers, and virtual machines to play with early OS's of historical significance. Use windows 2, Mac system 6, OS/2, Openstep (NeXTstep decendant that was used by Tim Burners-Lee who created the WWW, web browser, and web server. This OS evolved into OS X.
Not a personal attack, but I'd hardly say someone is "Amazing with computers" if they're only amazing with Windows.
Well, I have to agree with him, whoever fired Steve Jobs was a complete idiot who trusted the opinion of a pre suger-water-selling company CEO while dropping off one of real minds behind the technology Apple served in those days. The world would have been different.
Whether you hate or love Jobs, he did a revolution and his name will be alongside all the great names of the human history.
Human history?
Lol.
@Saad
"..be alongside all the great names of the human history."
..no comment..
@Saad "the great names of the human history."
Oh yeah? What did Steve do for me?
@Steven Uhm. Pretty much started the whole consumer computer stuff thingy.
@Saad well, he has a point zere. genghis khan has a great name in human history. so does ze fuhrer.
@Saad
For some reason, the people that replied to you really hit a nerve of mine.
Is it so in to hate on Apple now that people aren't even to admit Jobs' earlier accomplishments? Sure Jobs didn't do it alone, but just like Bill Gates, their names will most certainly be remembered for there pioneering contributions to the consumer computer industry.
To say anything less is woefully ignorant, treading into troll territory and a waste of anyone else's time.
@fernpointoh
Well said. Although, being in the comments section here is certainly a waste of time, 100% troll territory, and the birthplace of woeful ignorance. Watch how any negative comment about Apple gets highly ranked, even if it has no basis in fact & is just vitriolic jealousy. These people are still talking about the antenna every chance they get. They say Steve Jobs should be fired, and that Apple is a monopoly, an evil empire - and they do this typing away on their Windows based PC, since Microsoft is free from any evil or monopolistic tendencies.
I actually enjoy it, makes me feel better about myself to see such blatant, misinformed stupidity. I say, help engadget out & egg them on.
Oh, to stay on topic, Larry Ellison is a cool cat & he is correct.
@Joao Cagao
Not gonna lie...I had to look up what vitriolic meant.
@fernpointoh and @Joao Cagao
Thank you guys for understanding and adding to the point.
I use a PC with Windows 7, used the iPhone 3GS and now using the Samsung Galaxy S with Android. No matter what I use, I always make sure that it suits me, this doesn't mean that anybody else bad or good.
Having said all of that, I honestly believe that Steve Jobs just like Bill Gates, have both contributed to the forming of the PC age. Steve gets more credits for the fact that he went against all big companies at his time and produced with Woz a computer that can be set in any home and has a easy to use graphical interface and software.
Jobs, did a lot more than iPads, many things happened behind the scene, fighting against huge corporations would slam any strong man down and fade their dreams away, but Jobs stood strong, held hands with Woz and his small team and mass produced PC to the world. Now add to this story all the steady successful products he directed and produced and you've got yourself one of the best CEO's in the world, if not the best. A CEO to be taught about and many look up to.
So, easy on the bashing and try to learn about these people before claiming that they don't deserve to be in the books of history as some of the most influential men in human history.