“Mark did a brilliant job at HP and I expect he’ll do even better at Oracle,” said Ellison in a statement on Monday.

Contrast that bland platitude with what Ellison said when Hurd quit HP suddenly last Aug. 6. “The H.P. board just made the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs many years ago,” Ellison wrote in an e-mail to the New York Times at the time. “That decision nearly destroyed Apple and would have if Steve hadn’t come back and saved them.”

The two are close friends (in case there was any doubt) and tennis buddies. And Ellison is, of course, something of a business gadfly — the prerogative of being one of the richest and most powerful high tech executives in Silicon Valley.

Smart move or a favor to an old pal? Maybe both: While he was considered more a bureaucrat rather than visionary at HP that company’s shares are down 13 percent since Hurd was let go.

Hurd replaces Charles Phillips, who raised eyebrows earlier this year when pictures of him and his long-time mistress appeared on massive billboards in New York’s Times Square, San Francisco and Atlanta — though this seems to have had nothing to do with his departure. Co-president Safra Catz remains in her role.

No word on what vetting was done on Hurd other than Ellison’s strong endorsement. Also unknown is whether Hurd will be able to keep his reported $35 million severance after being unemployed for exactly one month. Oracle and HP increasingly compete in the computer hardware market.

But for Hurd, this has to be a happy ending to his not-so-excellent summer. Hurd quit after a sexual harassment probe that revealed he had falsified expense reports, ostensibly to hide a personal relationship with a company contractor. HP found that he did not violate sexual harassment policies, but did run afoul of its standards of conduct.

Hurd agreed: “I realized there were instances in which I did not live up to the standards and principles of trust, respect and integrity that I have espoused at HP and which have guided me throughout my career.”

Now, for a fresh start.

to know more click here