Posted 8:36 AM (0) comments

Silver threads and golden parachutes

Well, its easy to see why J.D.Edwards execs want to merge with PeopleSoft - ZDNet reports "Chief Executive Robert Dutkowsky agreed to take $650,000 at the close of the merger and $1.95 million at the end of a six-month transition period...He would also get payments to offset tax liabilities and acceleration of unvested options." That's not only a Golden Parachute, its a golden parachute with wings and four angels to help you land softly! Why do shareholders put up with this crap?

Posted 9:00 AM (0) comments

PeopleSoft's Cheerleaders and Clowns

In the latest round of the war of words among Oracle, PeopleSoft (and, oh yes, J.D.Edwards), new ads in major newspapers feature PeopleSoft customers talking about their choice of software. If the people quoted are any good at their job at all, they investigated both Oracle's and PeopleSoft's offerings (as well as SAP's and, oh yes, J.D.Edwards') before making their choice. They chose PeopleSoft. If they were feeling regrets, would PeopleSoft use them in an ad?

Whenever a software vendor offers me the opportunity to interview a customer, I turn it down. The company is not going to line up a customer who isn't wildly enthusiastic about their offering, so there's little I can learn from them. Better to go to a vendor-sponsored event (BrainShare, TechED, LinuxWorld, etc.) and listen to the attendees - they're views on the vendor are much more likely to be honest, if not always accurate.

In a brilliant move, Oracle is also launching a suit against PeopleSoft (and, oh yes, J.D.Edwards) for the blatantly anti-competitive nature of the poison pills (and golden parachutes) PeopleSoft is attempting to use to thwart the takeover attempt.

Oracle has also now raised their tender offer for PeopleSoft shares, a good move. Its remarkable, I think, but Oracle seems to be making all the right moves and PeopleSoft appears to be run by a craven bunch interested only in saving their own jobs. PeopleSoft shareholders, take note. Better check out the weather report for Hades!

Update: Now Connecticut's Attorney General, Richard Blumenthal (evidently peeved that he didn't get in on the ground floor of the Microsoft suit) is threatening to sue Oracle on anti-trust grounds. Mr. Blumenthal shows an evident lack of understanding about anti-trust law, though, when he says "The takeover would cripple competition--threatening higher prices and lower quality--and cause terrible waste in the human and financial investments already made." Not that he has the credentials to judge software quality, mind you. Which, even so, has never been a point in contention for trustbusters! As to the wasted time and effort - what do the J>D.Edwards customers say about that arguement?

Maybe, while I had my back turned, someone started a contest to see who could take on Larry Ellison least effectively? With extra points for looking like a doofus while you're doing it?

Posted 1:06 AM (0) comments

Microsoft AU slams Redmond over service outage

The recent shutdown in Australian Windows XP and Office XP activation sites was evidently caused by botched maintenance done by MS headquarters in Redmond which disabled the application which generated the activation codes. Evidently Redmond thought they were doing the maintenance in the middle of the night (which it was in the western US) and somehow didn't realize this was the middle of the afternoon in Australia!

Posted 9:18 AM (0) comments

Oracle/PeopleSoft Update

Now PeopleSoft is also suing Oracle, claiming the Redwood City company is out "to injure PeopleSoft, and to cripple its ability to compete." Cripple? Oracle wants to put PeopleSoft out of business! But quite legally, by buying up all the stock.

If I were a PeopleSoft (or, for that matter, a J.D.Edwards) stockholder I'd really want to know what's got these CEOs' knickers in such a twist...

In a full page ad in today's San Jose Mercury-News, PeopleSoft CEO Craig Conway repeats the outrageous idea that he's rejecting the acquisition because it raises anti-trust questions. Questions that weren't raised, evidently, when Conway discussed merging PeopleSoft's and Oracle's applications divisions in conversations with the Redwood City company just six months ago! He also, rather disingenuously, mentions that PeopleSoft has implemented a number of "poison pill" provisions to thwart an unfriendly acquisition but fails to mention the exorbitant "golden parachute" he's set up for himself. Mr. Conway appears to be mostly concerned with his own future, not his company's and certainly not the PeopleSoft shareholders.