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'Evil' Google took our stuff, says Oracle CEO Larry Ellison

'Evil' Google took our stuff, says Oracle CEO Larry Ellison

By Reuters | Updated: 13 August 2013 20:48 IST

Larry Ellison, Oracle Corp's outspoken chief executive officer, said Google Inc CEO Larry Page acted "absolutely evil" and accused the Internet company of using Oracle's products without permission.

"We just think they took our stuff, and that was wrong," Ellison said in an interview with Charlie Rose on "CBS This Morning" that was aired on Tuesday.

When asked if he thought Page was evil, Ellison replied: "I think what they did was absolutely evil."

Google, whose motto is "don't be evil," declined to comment.

Ellison accused Google of using Oracle's Java programming language to develop the Android mobile operating system. "And at the very end, you press a button and (say), "Convert this to Android format," he said. Oracle has sued Google over the issue.

Page joins a long list of technology executives who have been lambasted by Ellison, including former Microsoft Corp CEO Bill Gates, Salesforce.com Inc chief Mark Benioff, SAP co-founder Hasso Plattner, and Hewlett-Packard's entire board and former CEO Leo Apotheker.

During the interview, which CBS said took place last week, Ellison addressed a wide range of subjects, including the future of Apple Inc without the late Steve Jobs and the controversy over the U.S. National Security Agency's electronic surveillance programs.

Ellison called the NSA's collection of data "absolutely essential" for the government to ferret out potential terrorists and said it would be alarming only if the data is used to do political targeting. The U.S. government is one of Oracle's biggest customers.

On Apple, Ellison said that without his "best friend" Jobs, the company would not be nearly so successful.

"I like Tim Cook," he said about Apple's CEO. "I think there are a lot of talented people there, but Steve is irreplaceable."

© Thomson Reuters 2013

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