Re: low end oracle, who needs it?

Kim Nash (ksn_at_mail.cw.com) wrote:
: oracle's got Oracle Workgroup Server, which runs on netware, nt, os/2,
: unixware. then they're coming out with personal oracle and oracle for
: windows and Low End Oracle...how are people differentiating between these
: products? where's the overlap?
 

: what price point should be making the market here? is oracle trying to be
: microsoft?
 

: -- kim

FLAME BAIT: Lots of Oracle employees (sales, support, documentation) are also confused about Oracle products, so don't feel like you are alone. The product line is very complex and runs on so many platforms that it is amazing that anyone knows the big picture. I deal with two different licenses/CSIs (Netware for the server and DOS/Windows for the client software). I have had many ridiculous conversations with Oracle sales, support and documentation people because they only understand one side, and want to refer me someone on the other side that also only understands one side!

The main thing they have taught the sales people at Oracle is how to give a customer the feeling that he should be grateful that he has been allowed the honor of giving his money to Oracle, and that he should be even more grateful that they have taken the time to help him decide what the specific products are that he needs to buy!

The key to not going completely crazy is understanding where the individual product or product group is located on the "client-server" architecture.

Some PC/Windows Oracle products that are not networked are basically the whole ball of wax stuffed into one box (beware).

OWS is for a server. I have been using full Oracle6 on netware 3.x and it is a real pain for a small departmental "one man shop" like this since I also do the programing and Netware Admin. stuff. I am skeptical about OWS solving the "easy of use" issue for people like me, but who knows? Oracle refuses to give me an "upgrade" to Netware OWS even though I consider it to be a "downgrade".

Is "personal oracle" the same as "project X"? I guess it is Oracle's answer to Access 2. They both might be ok for surface level work, but will probably suck when things get complicated (networked).

"personal oracle" might be the "stand alone" windows Oracle7 upgrade advertised for $200 recently. Without additional products (SQL*Net, SQL*Forms, etc.) this is most likely a piece of shit dressed up as a piece of candy.

"low end oracle" could also be "project X"?

Oracle for Windows will now be the "first port" for Oracle's CDE products, also referred to as the "Enterprise" client side component of Oracle's main development products.

	If you need a "decode" on the "Oracle speak" in the 
	previous paragraph:

	Oracle's programming tools are now on the client side
	of the "client-server" architecture. Oracle people
	informally say they don't like MS any better than the
	rest of the world does, but that is where the market is.

	So, Windows is where Oracle development happens from
	now on. There is no more character-mode development!
	
	The "Enterprise" means that you can NOW do the kind 
	of industrial strength development that you thought 
	Oracle's advertising was talking about 5-8 years ago.

	"Enterprise" also means "User Friendly, !NOT!". They
	assume you are a major tech freak who can learn lots
	of complex stuff on various levels. Not for us PC 
	wimps anymore. Oh, by the way: $20,000 training is
	minimum.

	Oracle is (finally) trying to make their "tools" 
	compatible with data sources from other vendors!

I have probably made some mistakes in the above, but maybe you see a little bit of the overall scene.

On the political points you raise:

Oracle is run by a megalomaniac (ego/power crazy) according to a PC Week opinion columnist several months ago.

Devining Oracle's market strategy is over my head, but rest assured that avoiding screwing the customers is generally below making investors happy on the priority list. I consider Oracle to be a bastion of capitalist pig thinking (like microsoft) and take evasive action as necessary. Think of Oracle employees as hostile aliens from another galaxy that haven't learned what civilized human values are, and you'll be ahead. Also try relaxation therapy, and if that doesn't work, get into as many flame wars on the internet as possible until you feel better (or kick your dog).

On Oracle "corporate culture", look at http://www.wired.com (flux?) for some Oracle scuttlebutt.

On the one social occasion when I accidentally met some "behind the scenes" Oracle employees (as opposed to the ones trained to deal in PR, like training, sales, support...) at a mountaineering lodge, they acted like I was going to bite them when I said that I was a customer. They looked for the earliest opportunity to get away. Maybe my deodorant and/or mouthwash wasn't working?

The problem is a generic one in the computer industry and possibly the USA or the world: there is an elistist tendency based on one's attachment to one's mental gifts/technical training that usually transcends the ability to understand and relate to the customer's business needs or the needs of the community. Self/Ego/Greed.

Thus, perhaps it shouldn't bewilder people when mail bombs are in the news. (If the FBI is listening, it wasn't me.)

Have a good day, and enjoy the originally pagan holidays that were turned into a shallow commercialized celebration of the birth of His Supreme Holiness Jesus Christ (who God says is the same person as Buddah, Mohammed, Moses, Abraham and Krisna if you read your Bible carefully).

EP Received on Wed Dec 21 1994 - 05:38:42 CET