hjrdba.com: an open letter to Larry Ellison

When I recently returned to hjrdba.com to check for recent changes in Howard J. Roger's 9i new features document, I discovered that "Oracle Corporation has insisted that his work be removed from this site."

Below is a copy of a letter which I've forwarded to Larry Ellison. While community involvement in this issue may be too much to ask, I earnestly hope that some avenue can be found to make Howard's work available to us once again.

Dear Mr. Ellison:

I would not normally think of writing directly to you, but an issue has arisen that I believe demands your attention.

The materials at www.hjrdba.com have been taken off-line, ostensibly at the request of Oracle Corporation.

As a DBA involved in administering ERP installations, I would like to upgrade my 8i OCP status to 9i, and I have been relying in part upon the materials at Howard J. Rogers' website to do so. His documentation is far preferable to the authorized Daniel Benjamin text on the subject published by Oracle Press.

I realize that the material at www.hjrdba.com might sometimes be at odds with Oracle documentation, but the clear and overall thrust of that material was enthusiastic support for Oracle's products, so it's not as if by disagreeing with the official documentation that Howard was being critical or dismissive of them.

It should not be necessary for me to point out to you that Oracle's position as market leader is under attack. One of many steps that Oracle Corporation can take to preserve its market share is to foster a free exchange of information and ideas concerning its products.

I ask you for my benefit, as well as your own, to open these documents to your community again, and not to impede their further development.

Charles Fisher

    / Charles J. Fisher              |"How ridiculous not to flee from one's /
   /  cfisher_at_rhadmin.org            | own wickedness, which is possible,   /
  /   http://rhadmin.org             | yet endeavor to flee from another's,/
 /                                   | which is not."  -Marcus Aurelius   /
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