Re: Third Party Oracle Support
Date: Wed, 27 May 2015 00:26:09 -0400
Message-ID: <CAAaXtLB0WAqC5Tk_m6juGnD4qGhZUo_6fJSU09mbfreuwD1GZg_at_mail.gmail.com>
There are a couple ways you can get "third party" support.
One is to purchase your support agreement from a company licensed to *resell* Oracle support. I don't know whether any such companies still exist, but as I recall, Data General did that when I worked for them, many years ago. Such companies might (or might not) be restricted to (re)selling support only for licenses that they have (re)sold.
Companies reselling Oracle Support can usually do so for less that the (list) price charged by Oracle, but there is likely to be a limit on how much less they can charge, since they ultimately have to pay Oracle.
The other way would be to purchase support from a company like Rimini Street. Oracle and Rimini Street have been embroiled in lawsuits for years. Before signing an agreement with any third party, it might be a good idea to ensure that your support contract fully indemnifies you against any claims or damages brought against you by Oracle. It might also be a good idea to "google" a phrase like "rimini street oracle lawsuit" to get an idea of what you may some day be up against.
Personally, I make no representation on the legality or proprietary of any third-party support providers business practices or offerings, but I would be very cautious of anyone other than Oracle claiming to provide patches for Oracle software.
--- As far as there being a separation between "right to patch/upgrade" and "right to open service requests" as Tim Gorman described, I believe Oracle Support may have once actually been sold that way. (Certainly, artifacts of that still exist on My Oracle Support, where these still exist as separate privileges on our accounts.) I have the very vaguest recall of that policy being changed about 12 or 15 years ago, making Support now an "all or nothing" affair. I could be mistaken on that, though. While I have been known to take pretty deep dives into the oracle license agreement on occasion, I have not paid nearly so much attention to support. On Tue, May 26, 2015 at 11:57 PM, Stojan Veselinovski < stojan.veselinovski_at_gmail.com> wrote:Received on Wed May 27 2015 - 06:26:09 CEST
> My understanding is you pay the company eg Rimini street and they
> stockpile the patches while you have the "Oracle Support" licence. When
> you forgo your support licence with Oracle you still have the ability to
> apply the patches that they have downloaded for you.
>
> It is seen as a "cost saving" but I guess you are stuck at a particular
> version and can never move forward.
>
> It all seems a bit murky in a legal sense.
>
> Stojan
> www.stojanveselinovski.com/blog
>
> On Wed, May 27, 2015 at 12:38 PM Tim Gorman <tim_at_evdbt.com> wrote:
>
>> It used to be that support cost 22% of the full retail license price,
>> leading to a situation where some entities with more than a 78% discount
>> pay far more for support than licenses.
>>
>> But if I recall correctly, 15% was for the ability to use "
>> support.oracle.com" and 7% was for upgrades and patches, or maybe it was
>> the other way around?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 5/26/15 20:22, Hans Forbrich wrote:
>>
>> On 26/05/2015 7:00 PM, Stojan Veselinovski wrote:
>>
>> Hi All,
>>
>> Recently I've had discussions and know of companies that have decided
>> to not pay the Oracle support licence and do it via a third party.
>>
>> Anyone know the ins and outs of this?
>>
>> Are you able to receive patches via the third party seeing you are not
>> paying support?
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Stojan
>> www.stojanveselinovski.com/blog
>>
>>
>> One needs to realize that part of the Support offering is the access to
>> patches and upgrades that are only available through Oracle Support
>> system. Anyone offering to distribute these is [likely] violating a bunch
>> of agreements, unless they have cut a sweetheart deal with Oracle -
>> unlikely as it undermines Oracle's significant revenue stream.
>>
>> At one time, Oracle offered a 2-tier support deal - support only (access
>> to metalink and analyst assistance) and patches. Seems that may have
>> disappeared.
>>
>> There are a couple of interesting articles on the topic - not favourable
>> for the support provider
>> -
>> http://www.informationweek.com/applications/oracle-wins-case-against-third-party-support-provider/d/d-id/1110405
>> -
>> http://www.pcworld.com/article/2033683/oracles-mark-hurd-users-weigh-in-on-thirdparty-software-maintenance.html
>>
>> On the other hand, some organizations are properly and successfully
>> providing a support contract that effectively resembles remote DBA
>> services. Some companies that do this are actually very good at it and I
>> would encourage considering using those services - if appropriate.
>>
>> /Hans
>>
>>
>>
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