With my PMP complete, I need to finish my thoughts on Open World before they fade. The conference was the largest ever at 41,000. I was a bit surprised that the Java and Technical sessions were split off from the primary OpenWorld conference and were part of JavaOne and Oracle Develop. I had to pay $100 to upgrade my pass to a Disney style "park-hopper" pass. Getting around can be a problem with so many people compressed into such a small space. The blogger Alan Zeichick had a similar observation.
Overall, I thought most of the conference has moved towards a more strategic direction. Oracle is a much more than just a database/applications company and the conference reflects the diversity and breadth of the company. In the past, many of the sessions were tactical; such as "How to Develop Financial Statements with GL or "The Benefits of Using iProcurement". Most of these type of presentations now belong in the realm of the Oracle Applications Users Group (OAUG). It is nice to see a clear distinction between the two conferences. Most of the sessions were very good but they were a couple of dogs as well. I felt the keynotes contained a lot of marketing hype from Oracle's partners but there was some good information, you just had to sit through some of the marketing fluff.
Main Themes of OpenWorld 2010
Cloud: This was the most often discussed topic of the conference. Ellison took great pains to describe his view of the cloud. This was often done at the expense of others such as Marc Benioff of Salesforce.com. Ellison's version of the Cloud is one of high performing appliances running fault tolerant, secure management software.
Exadata Machine: It is unusual to seee a CEO of a large company speak on the technical prowess of a specific machine. But that is exactly what Ellison did during his keynote. The keynote highlighted the importance Oracle has placed on the Exadata application server. One of the common themes throughout the keynotes is the explosive growth of consumer driven internet services. This machine should be able to keep up with the demand. Larry Ellison stated that the entire Facebook application community could reside on two Exadata machines.
Java, LINUX and Open Source: Oracle had to modify the LINUX kernel in order to achieve higher performance on the Exadata machine. Ellison lamented the fact that the Red Hat community could not keep up with the requests that Oracle had made to the Open Source community. I wonder if this is the splintering of the LINUX kernel. One of the counter arguments about Open Source is that the communities can't respond to market demands in an efficient manner. Java continues to be used as an embedded language with devices and appliances. It seems to be used as a SOA technology as well. I am not sure that Java is going to catch on at the desktop despite the unveiling of JavaFX. Oracle demonstrated its collaboration suite called Web Center. I don't see it capturing market share from Sharepointor MS Office. Idid see a small contingent of attendees wearing shirts stating, "Java, Set it Free". The fate of Open Source Java is going to be an interesting story. Personally, I am not sure that Java was ever truly Open Source.
Fusion Applications: I saw an early preview of the long awaited and overdue Fusion Applications. From what I saw, the Fusion Applications are complete re-design and re-write of the of Oracle Applications. The Fusion Apps should be available in Q1 or Q2 2011. It should be interesting to observe the adopton rate since approximately 85% of the customer base is on 11i. It does not appear that there will be a direct upgrade path from 11i to Fusion. Instead, customers will be expected to engage in a lengthy upgrade process to Release 12 and then to Fusion.
HP: At OpenWorld 2010, HP and Oracle appeared to present a unified front. But I have a hard time seeing how this cordial relationship continues. HP is acquiring companies at a pace similar to that of Oracle. Oracle, HP and IBM are all moving into the optimized hardware/software mega-appliance space. The Mark Hurd controversy turned out to be a non-story.
With all of this talk, I did have some fun as well. I met Data from Star Trek, The Next Generation.
The lower level of the Moscone Center had a great Iron Man 2 with all four of the Iron Man suits used in the movie. The suits were flanked on either side by 2 large video displays running scenes from the movie. I know this is a surprising revelation, but scenes with Oracle tie-ins were featured!
There was a great display for the America's Cup. It felt great to have a little nautical influence in the convention (I am a former Navy Officer). Ellison opened with a video from the Oracle/BMW America's Cup victory. I have not been able to find a copy of it on the Internet. I will post a link when I do find it.
The Customer Appreciation event on Wednesday night was great. I am not the biggest fan of the Black Eyed Peas but they are an awesome live band. The final day of the conference was a bit anti-climatic. The exhibit hall had closed and many of the attendees had departed the conference. I did have a couple of great sessions; one on Oracle & .Net and one on troubleshooting Java issues in 11i.
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