The Feature

OpenWorld in the Rearview Mirror

I have completed my attendance at the OpenWorld and thought I share some of my impressions and experiences.

Opening Night

I really enjoyed the initial key note by Larry Ellison, in which he took a walk down the memory lane and shared his memories of the early days at Oracle. We saw pictures of the first four four Oracle employees, first Oracle office door, Chuck Phillips in the uniform, Safra Catz as teenager [now I understand why they hired her], and Oracle Parkway under construction… I read and heard some negative comments about the event and they really surprised me. I appreciated Mr. Ellison’s sharing his emotions and showing his soft side. Thirty years is a long time and a great accomplishment for any company. Congratulations Oracle!

Applications Unlimited

Oracle reinforced the message that they will continue to invest in, develop, and improve the existing suites of applications. One little nuance I noticed during the Jasper Andersen key note was that the Applications Unlimited program was really a tiered program and the duration of the support provided to you depends on the support tier you purchase.

Application Integration Architecture

Oracle announced the availability of the Application Integration Architecture as a way of using its latest technology advancements to bring best practices to its application customers. You read more here.

Fusion Applications

Good things come to those who wait. And we will have to wait for several months and years for good things to come as Fusion Applications. According to Larry Ellison’s announcements in his second key note, the first Fusion Applications will start arriving in early 2008 and be focused on salesforce automation, with pre-built integration packs for Oracle’s E-Business Suite. Instead of creating massive applications, such as a full CRM, Financials or HR suites, Oracle is starting with focused modules, based on Fusion Middleware, that integrate with existing applications. In his key note, Mr. Ellison said, “I can’t press a button and have them all be Fusion apps. It has to be a gradual, evolutionary process.” Then he said that Oracle will ultimately rewrite all of its applications and have a Fusion version for every functional area. Full Fusion suites will take years to surface… For more news and commentary, follow our News section.

Ed Abbo and Steve Miranda showed some pretty cool features Oracle has done in the Social Apps space built with their Fusion Middleware, and few sneak peaks at Fusion Applications. Read the full article by Dan Farber of ZDNet.

Oracle Mix

I am really excited about Oracle Mix, a new social platform for sharing ideas about the future of Oracle products. We’ve been calling for something like this on this and other blogs for quite some time, and I give Oracle a lot of credit for making the Mix available. I only hope that the Mix will be actively monitored and responded to by Oracle Product Managers and, unlike Metalink or OAUG forums, it will have more answers than questions. Check it out for yourself and get actively involved!

Leaving Disappointed

To sum it all up, I was leaving the OpenWorld disappointed. While being herded with other 40,000+ attendees from one session to another under the signs and sounds of never ending infomercials, I kept thinking there must be a better way to meet people and transfer information. The highlight of the week was seeing my old-time colleagues and friends. My other expectations to learn more about R12 and Fusion were left unfulfilled. Some R12 product sessions were actually frustrating. A PowerPoint presentation with hundreds of people in a room was not a very effective format to show new software features and conduct meaningful discussions. Every time a presenter asked for someone’s email to answer a question or provide more details later, I kept wondering, where is your blog? Every Oracle product manager should have one. You just can’t get your message across efficiently with limited time and crowded room. I may be biased since it was my first time at the COLLABORATE and OpenWorld this year and both events were quite overwhelming.