January 1, 2026
Hug it out—or lawyer up?
Love your customers
‘Customer love’ vs. courtroom drama: the internet fires back
TLDR: Oxide’s Bryan Cantrill blasted “customer contempt,” recounting a Broadcom/VMware manager bragging that defectors “came crawling back,” and called suing customers gross. The community pushed back: love rhetoric feels naive, privacy lines got crossed, and many argue power, pricing, and Oracle-style endurance matter more than warm words.
Bryan Cantrill — ex-Sun, now Oxide co-founder — dropped a spicy LinkedIn post preaching "love your customers," dunking on Oracle’s alleged contempt and side-eyeing Broadcom after it bought VMware. In a private exchange, a Broadcom manager called the takeover a "breath of fresh air," bragging that defectors "came crawling back lol." Cantrill fired back, noting lawsuits from AT&T, Fidelity, Tesco, and United Healthcare, and declared: suing customers is gross. Context: Broadcom pushed subscriptions and "core licensing" (charging by how powerful your machines are), which many customers say feels like a squeeze.
The comments turned into a soap opera. The strongest pushback: people don’t want love from software, they want respect and fair deals. Others argued enshittification — the slow worsening of products to milk users — is bigger than one company’s vibe. A hard reality check landed too: if contempt kills companies, why has Oracle thrived? Then came meta-drama: some felt Cantrill outed a private conversation, calling it "gross" and dangerously close to naming names.
Jokes flew fast: "Customer Crawl 2.0," "Love‑bomb‑as‑a‑Service," and "HugOps vs. LawOps." Cantrill’s Oxide principles got praise, but the crowd’s verdict was split: love is cute; contracts, pricing, and power decide the plot.
Key Points
- •The author left Oracle after it acquired Sun, citing Oracle’s perceived disdain for customers.
- •A former Sun colleague now at Broadcom described Broadcom’s post-VMware acquisition changes as positive and customers as largely happy.
- •The colleague said customers accepted the shift to subscription and core-based licensing and signed long-term contracts, with some returning after trying to leave.
- •The author notes that AT&T, Fidelity, Tesco, and United Healthcare have litigated against Broadcom regarding VMware-related issues.
- •The author argues companies should not show contempt for customers and presents Oxide’s mission as customer-centric and innovation-focused.