Move over IMF, World Bank – here comes Larry Ellison

Never let it be said Larry Ellison doesn't think big. Oracle is to lend ailing city Moscow $360 million to allow them to build a unified computer network, Russian daily newspaper Izvestiya has reported. The system will be based on Oracle software -- clearly, this is a 'here's the money to buy our software' deal, reminiscent of the hard sell approach taken by Oracle's sales reps in the early 80s... Hardware and installation will be provided by Russian computer companies. Talk of Russian computer companies recalls to The Register's group mind paranoid stories printed in the UK IT press in the last decade claiming that the Soviet army used Sinclair ZX-81s (known to our transatlantic colleagues as the Timex 2000) to control ICBMs. This led to much speculation about whether the Communist Horde's ability to launch a nuclear attack on Western Civilisation might be severely hampered by RamPack wobble. ®