Larry Ellison : Cloud Computing, Chanel, Salesforce.com and "nitwit" VCs

 He's never liked the term, but Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has seemed in recent months to be resigned to the use of Cloud Computing as industry vernacular. But this week he showed that far from embracing the latest buzzword, he remains indignant at its use.

"Everyone looks around and is like, 'Yah! Like everything is in the Cloud,' " mocked Ellison at an event run by Silicon Valley group Churchill Club in San Francisco. "My objection is it's absurdity. It's nonsense My objection to Cloud Computing is the fact that Cloud Computing is not only the future of computing, it is the present and the entire past."

Asked if Oracle felt threatened by the emergence of Cloud Computing rivals, Ellison became animated in his derision. “Yeah. If theres no software or no hardware in the Cloud, then we're so screwed,” he said sarcastically. “What are you talking about? What do you think Google runs on, do you think it runs on water vapour? [The Cloud] is databases and operating systems and memory and microprocessors and the internet. People say ''Oh it's the Cloud'. What are you talking about?

“Are we dead because of Cloud Computing?” he asked rhetorically, visibly warming to his theme. “Is Intel dead? There are no microprocessors in the Cloud? Is Cisco dead because there is no networking in the Cloud? Are we dead because there are no databases in the Cloud, no applications in the Cloud, no middleware in the Cloud? The answer is no. All the Cloud is is computers in a network in terms of technology.”

He reserved particular scorn for Silicon Valley venture capitalists who profess only to want to back Cloud investments. “I love the VCs,” he laughed. They say 'we only fund the Cloud, is that Cloud?'. You have people doing a mass change in Microsoft Word to change 'internet' to 'Cloud' for the nitwits on Sand Hill Road!”

Salesforce.com and Chanel

Then there was a potshot at rival Salesforce.com (which Ellison seed-funded in its early days), something that was missing from the recent Oracle post-results discussion. “Before Salesforce.com was Cloud Computing they were Software as a Service,” said Ellison. “Then they became Cloud Computing for the same reason that last year Chanel was fuscia, this year it's puce. It's so bizarre – they just change the term and they think they've invented technology. 'Let's call it Cloud!'. It sure beats innovation.”

As far as Oracle is concerned, Ellison has clear ambitions that go beyond Cloud Computing. "We want to be T.J. Watson Jr.'s IBM," Ellison declared. "That was when IBM was the dominant software company. And they translated that position into being a great systems company. Back then, IBM wasn't just a company - it was the environment in which everything else operated.

“T.J. Watson’s IBM was the greatest company in the history of enterprise in America because its combination of hardware and software was running most of the enterprises on the planet. We think with the combination of Sun technology and Oracle technology we can succeed and beat IBM. That’s our goal. We have a deep interest in the systems business. We think that by combining our software with hardware that we can deliver systems that can be the backbone of most enterprises in America and around the world.”

On a more personal note, Ellison said he would remain at the helm of Oracle for at least another five years, by which time he will be approaching 70. After that? “We'll see how I feel,” he said. "I enjoy competition. I think life is a series of acts of discovery.We're all interested in discovering our own limits."