Anyone remember Oracle's "Unbreakable" campaign? I was just wondering whatever happened to it. I wonder if it was retired because it had run its course and a fresh new campaign was needed or whether it met an untimely demise at the hands of people who proved it is, most definitely, breakable.

It would not be interesting to hear whether making outrageous promises like this -- even when they have absolutely no possible chance of being true -- actually worked to bring in new customers. In other words, what is the ROI on making an utterly ridiculous claim, if not a complete, boldfaced lie?

Of course, big promotional campaigns such as this one also have an important effect on focusing the company itself on delivering on the outward-facing promises. Perhaps it was as much of a motivator for the company to aspire to as much as anything. And, of course, that was the spin that executives and PR reps ultimately had to put on the campaign once it was proved (and it didn't take long) that Oracle -- like all software -- had, and continues to have uncovered, dozens of serious security flaws.

http://news.com.com/2100-1001-831142.html?legacy=cnet

I don't really know that anyone really listens to Larry or really believes Oracle messages that aren't along the lines of, "Better uptime and scalability than any competing database on the market," claims which have a much better chance of being based in fact and experience. Perhaps by reason of its very lack of credibility in making a claim like "Unbreakable," Oracle was actually able to get away with it.

What if Microsoft were to run with that as a slogan for its Longhorn release? Actually, maybe Steve Jobs can run with it on the new Apple OS and beat Microsoft to the punch. That would really give him a lot of pleasure, wouldn't it? I mean, he could stick it to Gates and Ellison in one fell swoop!

I can see the slogan now: "Apple. Unbreakable. No, really, we mean it."

Actually, maybe Sun out to consider this for Solaris. They can go with, "Solaris. It's really, really super-unbreakable. Like, beyond-Oracle-unbreakable. Our crap is totally, completely, absolutely, utterly, impossible to break. Ever."

It really is remarkable what Ellison gets away with. Can you imagine any other CEO even having the -- what's the right word... stupidity? gall? stones? courage? arrogance? boldness? machiavellianism? -- to claim something so utterly preposterous?

Didn't he see Titanic in 1997?