Unsolicited offer rallies PeopleSoft staff behind chief. (Media & Technology).PeopleSoft Inc.'s Eric Tamm has spent almost 12 years writing brochures and manuals for software that Oracle Corp. Chief Executive Larry Ellison Lawrence Joseph Ellison (born August 17, 1944) is the co-founder and CEO of Oracle Corporation, a major database software company. Early life Ellison was born in New York City to Florence Spellman, a 19-year-old unwed Jewish mother. may eliminate. His response: Picking up a guitar and belting out his freshly written anthem "Dumpster Dive an' Go to Jail." The song dredges up a moment in Oracle's history, when Ellison hired detectives who tried to buy trash from a research group that supported archrival arch·ri·val n. A principal rival. Microsoft Corp. in its U.S. antitrust case Noun 1. antitrust case - a legal action brought against parties who are charged with limiting free competition in the market place action at law, legal action, action - a judicial proceeding brought by one party against another; one party prosecutes another for a . Tamm and other PeopleSoft employees are using creative means to protest Oracle's hostile bid for their company. He's part of a group of workers at the business-applications company that has sold 1,000 T-shirts emblazoned with "Larry, Kiss Our Apps." They've tied ribbons in the corporate color blue around each of the company's 2,400 trees. They're urging people to write to their attorneys general to encourage them to sue Oracle. "There's been a lot of outrage among PeopleSoft employees about the Oracle bid," said Tamm, 47, who was employee No. 152 when he joined the Pleasanton company in 1992. Tamm plays guitar and sings in the Raving rav·ing adj. 1. Talking or behaving irrationally; wild: a raving maniac. 2. Exciting admiration: a raving beauty. n. Daves, PeopleSoft's 12-year-old band named after company founder Dave Duffield. Power to the People is the name of an independent group of about 40 employees. They set up a Web site, pttp.org, and posted their manifesto: "skewer and satirize sat·i·rize tr.v. sat·i·rized, sat·i·riz·ing, sat·i·riz·es To ridicule or attack by means of satire. satirize or -rise Verb [-rizing, Oracle and everything about it." They bristle at Verb 1. bristle at - show anger or indignation; "She bristled at his insolent remarks" bridle at, bridle up, bristle up mind - be offended or bothered by; take offense with, be bothered by; "I don't mind your behavior" Ellison's bid because he's said he would only take the "top PeopleSoft developers." When Ellison first announced his offer on June 6, he said Oracle would stop developing and selling PeopleSoft products. After an outcry from customers, he's softened his stance, pledging to continue to "enhance" PeopleSoft's programs and support them for 10 years. Power to the People sold 300 "Larry, Kiss Our Apps" shirts in 30 minutes at a company Fourth of July Fourth of July, Independence Day, or July Fourth, U.S. holiday, commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Celebration of it began during the American Revolution. barbecue. The shirts cost $10 and the money will fund Power to the People activities, said group organizer Jason Blessing. "There was so much demand, we took preorders for 400 more and sold those in the cafeteria" on Wednesday, Blessing said. With Web sales, they've sold more than 1,000 anti-Ellison shirts. Oracle executives say they're really not hostile. "We're generally friendly people," Chuck Phillips, an Oracle executive vice president and former Morgan Stanley |
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