Oracle's Ellison Skewers Latest Tech Trends

VMware asserts that basic virtualization software should be independent of the operating system. Noting that VMware's dominance is also threatened by software from Oracle and Sun Microsystems(JAVA), Ellison estimated VMware's market cap should be worth only a fraction of what it was at the stock's height a year ago, when it surpassed $40 billion.

Not saving his barbs for competitors, Ellison also discounted the viability of Google's(GOOG) Android mobile operating system.

Noting that the software now powering Apple's(AAPL) iPhone went into development more than two decades ago, Ellison said the Android OS won't compare to the iPhone or Research in Motion's(RIMM) BlackBerry.

"RIM has a huge constituency and a great product. The iPhone is fabulously successful," Ellison said. While acknowledging that Google is great at search, he added, "Android is like Microsoft's old model -- selling telephone software to the telephone company."

Observing that the Android had been in development for just a few years, Ellison said Google will have "a difficult road" to make it a successful product. The Android "is too much hype. I don't think the mobile market is hype. The mobile phone is the next computer platform, and Apple's is doing extremely well. That's not hype at all."

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