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Monday, November 08, 2010

Larry Ellison Cracks Me Up

Image representing Hewlett-Packard as depicted...Image via CrunchBaseReuters: Oracle enlists private eyes to find HP CEO
Oracle Corp has hired private investigators to track down Hewlett-Packard CEO Leo Apotheker, believing testimony by the former SAP chief will help its efforts to claim about $4 billion in damages for software theft .... Oracle has subpoenaed Apotheker -- who began his job only last Monday -- but HP has refused to accept the subpoena, saying the U.S. software corporation is trying to harass him. .... their new chief, whose appointment surprised Wall Street and Silicon Valley ..... Oracle and Europe's top software maker are engaged in a legal battle that has transfixed Silicon Valley ...... Apotheker's lawyers at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher also 
Image representing SAP as depicted in CrunchBaseImage via CrunchBaserefused to accept the subpoena. If he is overseas, Oracle will be unable to serve him and have to await his arrival in California
I can see the point behind the lawsuit. SAP admitted guilt a long time ago. And I can see why Apothepo needs to be deposed. I guess I even see the point in hiring detectives. But it does get quite dramatic at that point. That hiring detectives part is signature Larry Ellison.

The Idea Of A Social Browser

Image representing RockMelt as depicted in Cru...Image via CrunchBaseIt's an idea but my hunch says - pun intended - this might not take off. This is like Maradona returning to World Cup Soccer and Argentina losing big earlier this past summer. There is a part of Marc Andreesen that feels that Netscape should have perhaps attained a Google like glory but did not because Microsoft played unfair. ("Life is unfair." -JFK)

Boxee, The Name

Image representing Boxee as depicted in CrunchBaseImage via CrunchBaseThere is just something about the name Boxee that bothers me, has always bothered me. It is that the name is too boxee, it reminds me of a box of some shape, size. And that is not a great image in my mind. The idea should be to get rid of boxes. I might have liked the name boxit, as in box up that TV, bury it in this box, you don't need it. Liberation.

The Yipit Iterations, Pivots And Turnaround

Image representing Yipit as depicted in CrunchBaseImage via CrunchBaseI first visited Vin Vacanti's blog perhaps a year and a half ago. We might have exchanged an email: hello! Back then his blog looked like it got updated once every few months. I had never met him. It was the depth of the recession. Although to a startup that has not made it yet, can look like the curtain is down for no explainable reason.

Event At Hunch: Gender Talk (4)


Hunch better resolutionImage via WikipediaSo I was at this event at the Hunch offices. Chris Dixon was hunched over a computer. Gosh, this was a while back. Grrls In Tech? No, this was Change The Ratio, a different gang.

"I wear the same outfit every day," Fred Wilson said.