Re: Tom Kyte a false idol?

> Umm, I'm realy confused by this Gog-like worship of Tom Kyte.
> To me, "Tom Kyte" is the name of a product, a figurehead for a huge
> corporate marketing machine, and it strikes me a ludicrous that a
> group of intelligent people would not be aware of this.

Nobody worships Tom Kyte. A whole lot of people believe that he is the best guy out there when it comes to learning Oracle. I'm among them. Tom is a man. He's just smarter than you.

> Some folks feel that "Tom Kyte" is just another Oracle marketing tool,
> and no more real than Santa Claus.

Tom is a terrifically effective Oracle marketing tool. No doubt. People like to buy a product they know how to use and can get information on. If Microsoft or IBM had a similar site it would be a great tool for them, too.

> One need to look no farther than his web site. During the week he
> spent at OracleWorld, hundreds of lines of answers were provided on
> his web site. No way he wrote all that at the same time he attended
> the conference.

This kind of thing is just a great example of not knowing what kind of a guy Tom is. The man answers questions night and day. He's a nut.

> It's easy to be right when you have the resources of a multi-billion
> dollar company behind you. I was also suprised to find that Kyte is
> not "worshipped" by everyone, and there are those who say that he is
> arrogant, snitty and insulting. I've been told that he sometimes
> refers to questions as "stupid" on his asktom web site, and openly
> insults people at public appearances.

Part of the credibility Tom has acquired is in the fact that he's not just an Oracle puppet. Sure, he needs to keep his job, but he also regularly points out when Oracle documentation, marketing, and features aren't what they need to be.

As for his personality, I haven't experienced any of the things you've described. I've had interactions with Tom, personal and business, and the worst I can say about him is that he's got the same personality as most "men obsessed" I've ever met. Sometimes he's short and doesn't suffer fools who aren't prepared to listen, but even in dealing with novices he can be quite patient and explain things quite well. If you'd read his website (besides knowing far more about Oracle) you'd find that the same holds true. Received on Sun Sep 14 2003 - 02:13:58 CDT