Computer industry 'old and boring'

'If I was 21, I'd go into biotech': Larry Ellison

The colourful chief of software giant Oracle, Larry Ellison, has said that his industry is "about to become boring" and if he were young again he would go into biotech.

The multi-billionaire - vying with Bill Gates for title of world's richest man - was speaking at a trade fair in New Orleans, where the company was promoting its latest software and its beefed-up website.

"Computers are starting to deliver on the promises they've made for years - they are making businesses more efficient," Mr Ellison told delegates.

"But over the next 10 years I think you'll see the computer industry maturing - not technology, but the architecture," he added.

Mr Ellison also predicted that, in some respects, the computer industry will not change much for 1,000 years.

"There will be no new architecture for computing certainly in the next 1,000 years," he said.

"That doesn't mean the networks won't get faster... but that model [now in place] will not change for 1,000 years," he said.

Bitter rivals

Oracle's famously flamboyant chief and Bill Gates of Microsoft, the world's two richest men, are bitter rivals.

Oracle has even admitted hiring private detectives to gain evidence of what it has said is Microsoft's funding of private interest groups.

"If Microsoft is creating front organisations," said Mr Ellison in June, "I feel very good about bringing that information to the public".

He has never been known to skirt controversy, especially where Microsoft is concerned, saying that Microsoft's dominance of the computer market stifled innovation.

"If you control the technology, then you are the only one who can innovate," he said.

In December, Oracle reported second quarter profits after tax up 62% to $623m (£432m).

Applications software sales increased 66% to $279m for the same period.

Oracle Corporation is the world's second largest software company after Microsoft, with annual sales of more than $10bn.