Re: The black box approach

[Quoted] On 25/12/2016 2:13 _at_wiz, Mladen Gogala wrote:

> I rejoined, that is true, but my activity is very much toned down. The
> plain truth is that the list is no longer very interesting. I am not
> towing the line and I never will. My impression from the list is that
> Oracle is trying to turn itself into a church, from being a corporation.
> They are treating the dissenters like heretics.

You don't have to explain anything, Mladen. I know what you stand for and why you reckon it's so bad.

The biggest problem I have with that list is the few "Oakies" and "Aces" who persist in transforming it into some sort of "test". I use the ""s advisedly, not talking about all of them.

> Nobody from the list's early days is active any more.

They mostly left Oracle altogether! :)

 > Even Jonathan, for
> whom I have all the respect in the world, has very much toned down his
> activity on the list.

Yeah, and he has nearly left the Ace thing as well. To be expected.

A pity, really.
He was always a great help to anyone who approached him.

> The big news is that the activity on the list will
> count as a good deed from Oracle ACE directors. I can assure you of one
> thing: I will never become an Oracle ACE. The reason is very simple:
> Oracle ACE title is, basically, a title of an auxiliary Oracle sales
> person, sales militia, if you want. If I will be selling Oracle, I want
> to get paid.

Join the club. I was approached to join that and flat refused. There is no way in the world I'll ever join something created by a guy who insisted initially that it was only for "Java people". Couldn't care less that person has left Oracle!

> The reason for my rejoining was to give an appropriate farewell to Steve
> Adams. The mission is now accomplished and I no longer care about the
> list. Steve has ruined it, for everybody. Current "leading members" are
> continuing his good work.

Where is he nowadays? He used to live in Sydney, near where I lived for a long time. But I totally lost track of him and haven't seen him at any of the user-oriented activities and mini-conferences and seminars organized since around 2008.
Not that he was ever a very social person, but at least for someone claiming to be a worldwide expert, it'd be great to actually let others than the "Oakies" know what it was all about. Ah well, I'm sure he'll surface again at some stage.

> Unfortunately, I don't think that Oracle itself is very interesting any
> longer. That is the reason why the list is dying and why this group is
> dying.

Oh, this group gave up the ghost years ago when Oracle declared it the "place full of persona non gratae". Mostly during the "let's get Burleson" era, when he was chased to the OTN groups and then systematically attacked.
Not that it was unwarranted but it killed most of the interest in Oracle groups.

Who has time to listen to a bunch of people calling each other names and insulting each other?

Not I. Hence why I never followed those groups. Might revisit them soon - they appear to have settled down.

As to Oracle the company, since it became a retirement place for ex-HP directors and Indian chieftains, it's become a joke. Good thing Derek Williams is now dead and buried but the long term damage he did to the company as a whole is too far gone to recover from.

Ah well, it'll all be "explained" when it crashes and burns...

Don't know if you celebrate but Merry Christmas and a great 2017 for you. Received on Sun Dec 25 2016 - 10:05:39 CET