This is the end of an era. Ellison stepping down from Oracle is a true sign that the era of software is over. The ability to sign mutli million deals and even billion dollar service contracts has slowly been eroded by BYOD and the cloud. Short Oracle immediately.
I spoke this week to a former colleague who works for a major Government organisation now. He laughed as he mentioned that managing a £50k contrat cost £500k. The rise of freeware and shareware mean that the marketplace is an exceptionally difficult place for the likes of Microsoft, Oracle, Sun and Cisco.
Intel invested hard in a TV solution that it almost gave away to Verizon. Software has no value any more. However, the benefits software brings does.
I used to sit in meetings discussion software v services. No software IS a service. And that changes everything.