On 5/30/06, Mogens Nørrgaard <mln@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Yo Mladen,
So what is this now? I'm sitting here in Anjo Kolk's living room with one (just one!) whisky (40 years old) and one (just one) good beer, and then suddenly I'm unable to drink, because I see the most bitter, twisted and old man in the community not being able to accept when someone else than himself - or me - is making a joke?
The quote as reported, rather than as delivered, and from people who don't know Mary-Ann but do know the public pronouncements by both her and David Litchfield doesn't sound like a joke. Doesn't mean it wasn't one or that she is stupid, just that understanding humour third hand without knowing the person doesn't work well. It also doesn't necessarily indicate bad journalism - its a good quote after all.
As to the substance, I happen to think that both David and Mary-Ann are right, Oracle do need to improve internally, particularly on their responseto newly discovered bugs (since bugs will always happen) and yes they can learn from Microsoft here; equally the prevalent culture of install everything, run everything with maximum rights, don't apply patches and lock down after the event needs to change. Security is a two way street and from where I stand neither we as customers "it's all Oracle's fault" nor our suppliers "it's all the fault of one or two individuals" are very good at it.
-- Niall Litchfield Oracle DBA http://www.orawin.info