Lord Ellison of Barking kept crowds at the Internet World show in New York waiting for 30 minutes yesterday while he chewed the fat with outgoing US President Bill Clinton, reports TechWeb. What advice on affairs of state Ellison gave the Pres is not reported.

When Larry finally deigned to show up to give his keynote address he delivered what attendees described as 'a 40-minute sales pitch'. And in a surprising break with tradition, the Oracle boss also slated Microsoft's database offerings.

"It was one of the most ego-oriented speeches I have ever heard," said Peter Lindell, senior partner with ITP, a Swedish venture capital fund. "Seventy-five per cent of it was a product information sales pitch. He showed up 25 minutes late and then he gave a 40 minute sales pitch."

But Ellison was in good company with his puff-laden presentation. An earlier speech by Intel veep Paul Otellini was 'a 45-minute ad for Itanium', according to hacks attending the show.

Remarkably, both Oracle and Intel are sponsors of the event. ®