TECH SALVATION: Former movie star and current California governor Schwarzenegger said that technology is the greatest asset people have in solving the world's problems.

SAN FRANCISCO: Famous personalities are usually a common sight at big IT conferences where they are usually roped in to provide inspiring, anecdotal speeches or just to jazz up proceedings.

Intel’s annual developer forum has seen the likes of William Shatner, Harrison Schmitt (the only scientist to set foot on the moon) and LeVar Burton who plays the character Geordie La Forge in Star Trek: The Next Generation take to the stage over the years.

Now you would think that for a company who has a rock star CEO like Larry Ellison, Oracle wouldn’t need any more star power to captivate the audience.

But that’s exactly what transpired at this year’s Oracle OpenWorld where none other than The Terminator himself appeared in the flesh.

Of course, these days Arnold Schwarzenegger is more appropriately known as the governor (or some say The Governator) of California.

Action hero

At the very beginning of his guest appearance, Schwarzenegger took pains to address an important subject that was probably on the minds of the audience ... or not.

He joked about his wife Maria Shriver being caught on camera a few days prior to the event using her handphone illegally while driving. He appealed to the tech crowd to find a solution for her so she wouldn’t look like she’s still stuck in the stone age.

He also assured the audience that action would be taken against his wife but said that he was in a no-win situation.

“If I don’t take action, the voters get upset but if I take action, then I get no action,” he said to an eruption of laughter from the crowd.

More laughs came when Schwarzenegger recounted how various motion capture, morphing and green screen technologies helped his action hero movie career.

He said it was technology that allowed him to appear as a Terminator blowing the head off a T1000 Terminator only to watch it regenerate.

And it was technology that allowed him to appear like he was saving his daughter while flying a Harrier fighter jet in True Lies. And it also enabled him to “look studly” while fighting off a giant snake in Conan the Barbarian.

California pride

But it wasn’t all jokes as the governor said he was most excited about “pumping you guys up” at OpenWorld because he’s a big fan of technology himself.

“I love technology, it doesn’t matter if it’s high tech or bio tech, or if it’s nano tech or green tech or clean tech. All of the techs, I just love,” he said.

He said technology is the greatest asset people have in solving the great challenges that the world is facing today.

In the field of healthcare, for example, Schwarzenegger spoke of his admiration for doctors who use telemedicine to treat patients who are in another geographical location.

He also talked about how technology is leading to new and cheaper forms of renewable energy, cleaner cars and alternative fuel in the effort to fight climate change.

Schwarzenegger ended his speech by congratulating Ellison and Sun Microsystems chairman Scott McNealy on what he called “a new partnership between two great California success stories — two of the world’s great technology giants — Oracle and Sun.”

Oracle is based in Redwood City while Sun Microsystems is headquarted in Santa Clara, in the state.

• Watch the short video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Umj4OtIx6zk.