back to article The ultimate vendor lock-in: High school opens on Oracle campus

As Facebook is being slapped down for trying to get ‘em young with its under-13s messenger service, Oracle has gone one step further towards life-time lock-in: by opening a high school on its campus. The Design Tech High School - built at a cost of $43m on Oracle’s Redwood campus - is due to open in January, according to the …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Can't blame 'm for trying but...

    I would seriously wonder about anyone who would let their kids go to school there willingly. Of course.. If you live in the area and this school is closest by and the most convenient then sure, I can understand why. But otherwise...

    "Sorry Jimmy, but you got a D on your homework assignment. While using PostgreSQL as a backend database server isn't wrong, the correct answer to the question was MySQL".

    "What question? all you told us was to make an interactive website using PHP...".

    1. phuzz Silver badge

      Re: Can't blame 'm for trying but...

      I'm guessing this is primarily for the children of employees.

      Hooray, we have company schools now! Do you think employees will be able to pay with OracleBux soon?

      And at least little Jimmy wasn't trying to use noSQL for his backend. That kind of stunt should get you detention at any school.

      1. Steve K
        Coat

        Re: Can't blame 'm for trying but...

        I don't think many people will sign up.

        They will not just have to pay for their child's desk use, but other desks in the classroom, all other classrooms in the school, all school office desks and also all desks in use in any of the other Oracle campus office buildings too, whether occupied or not.

        1. pashaf

          Re: Can't blame 'm for trying but...

          What this article is missing that this is an existing school that Oracle has sponsored for the last 3 years. Furthermore, there is no emphasis that this is a public school.

          Finally, my kid has attended that school for the last two years and we are not paying for anything. Yes, there are fundraising activities for various purposes, but that is very common in the US schools, both private and public.

      2. pashaf

        Re: Can't blame 'm for trying but...

        This is a public school, available to anyone. I don't work for Oracle, never worked for them - my kid has been attending the school for the last 2 years already.

    2. TheVogon

      Re: Can't blame 'm for trying but...

      Presumably they charge per seat. And charge you for every seat in the classroom unless you buy an Oracle chair!

    3. pashaf

      Re: Can't blame 'm for trying but...

      This school has been around for over 2 years ago. It has great teachers, great programs, and great internship opportunities for kids. There are no brainwashing or mentioning Oracle anywhere.

      Now, with the new campus (almost) open, kids will have a permanent facility in a safe and accessible neighborhood.

      My kid goes there and absolutely loves the program; enjoys mentorship and guest speakers from Oracle and other companies. Her internship @Oracle taught her a lot.

      Your sarcasm has neither value nor objective view.

  2. Chewi
    Headmaster

    “We are not *just* training kids to be Oracle employees or *just* using Oracle products.”

    So you're doing both of those things then?

    1. Prst. V.Jeltz Silver badge
      Thumb Up

      Re: “We are not *just* training kids to be Oracle employees or *just* using Oracle products.”

      hmm , interesting , must remember those kind of grammatical gymnastics for when I next want to deny 2 or more things ...

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Catch 'em young...

    ...it's the only way they'll ever understand Oracle's licencing model.

    1. WolfFan Silver badge

      Re: Catch 'em young...

      <cough>'Give me a child until he is seven years old and I will give you the man' --Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus.</cough>

      Who ever thought that Larry Ellison could find Jesus?

      1. Chris King

        Re: Catch 'em young...

        "Who ever thought that Larry Ellison could find Jesus?"

        No, Larry's expecting Jesus to find HIM.

  4. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge
    Devil

    As I understand Oracle contracts - you are required to mortgage your soul and hand over your firstborn child in order to be allowed to use their glorious products.

    So all this seems to be is a receptacle for those firstborn children to be kept in.

    So it sounds less like a school and more like a hostage situation.

    Or am I being unfair to Oracle...

    1. WolfFan Silver badge

      It's impossible to be unfair to Oracle.

    2. Chris King

      "As I understand Oracle contracts - you are required to mortgage your soul and hand over your firstborn child in order to be allowed to use their glorious products".

      And that's just the trial products !

  5. WolfFan Silver badge

    errm...

    as the attached video shows, it ain't the helo (a Sikorsky SkyCrane https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky_S-64_Skycrane which can't land on water) doing the water landing, it's the slung cargo under the helo (a boat) doing the landing.

    1. snellasaurus
      Joke

      Re: errm...

      It can land on water..once.

  6. Alistair
    Windows

    Minor correction:

    How do we make sure that we still have autonomy as a school?” school co-founder Ken Montgomery told the newspaper......

    Sadly, HP has autonomy. And they're headed to court I think,,,,,

  7. david 136

    Helicopters -land- at nearby San Carlos, which coincidentally has the airport code SQL.

  8. TheDoc

    What about UTCs in the UK

    In the UK we have exactly the same thing. We have 49 UTCs sponsored by tech companies, like Oracle, Microsoft and Cisco, who give their time and expertise and money, generally because they want to help the next generation of engineers. Is it selfish? Yes, in some ways - the more software engineers there are in the country, the better the employment environment is for those companies. However, they give a fantastic education to young kids. Do the companies encourage learning their favourite languages? Yes, but within limits. Java and C# have a place in the workplace. ABAP would be seen as too proprietary and be rejected. The same is true in every school - kids education is influenced by cheap Macs, or discount MS licenses. This is no different, and has worked well for years. But somehow that won't work in US? It's either nationalistic, or a poorly researched pop at Oracle.

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