And it's going strong. We're happy to see that this year's post-conference activity is more robust than ever—Oracle OpenWorld On Demand has had tens of thousands of visits, and there have been more than 129,000 downloads of presentations and supporting materials to date.

We're taking this as a big thumbs up for our new and improved pricing policy: free for all full conference, Oracle Develop, and Primavera program attendees, and only US$245 for everyone else.

Missed a session? You can still catch it. Find it on the Oracle OpenWorld On Demand site.

Oracle users groups are global communities whose members are some of Oracle's most active customers. At Oracle OpenWorld, users group members get the chance to meet up, compare notes on common challenges, share information on getting more value from Oracle, and express collective concerns to Oracle.

In this video you can hear Janney Eckelson from the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) Oracle Users Group Community discussing his group's focus and goals with Oracle's Jeff Erickson. You'll also hear about additional users group activities throughout the year and important reasons for getting involved.

You can catch more of Jeff's user group videos on YouTube using the links below:

• Independent Oracle Users Group Community (IOUG)
• United Kingdom Oracle Users Group (UKOUG)
• Quest International Users Group
• Oracle Applications Users Group (OAUG)
• Oracle Real Application Clusters Special Interest Group (RAC SIG)
• All India Users Oracle Users Group (AIOUG)
• Oracle Development Tools User Group (ODTUG)

Get a complete list of user groups, a calendar, and information on getting involved.

Have you been avoiding walking under ladders, being extra careful around mirrors, or staying out of the paths of black cats today? The more superstitious of us have been rubbing our rabbits' feet, hoping to get lucky in finding some more talk about last month's Oracle OpenWorld. We had the good fortune to find these gems for this week's Around the World.

Podcast Audio of My Oracle OpenWorld Live Interviews
If you missed any of Justin Kestelyn's interviews from the OTN Lounge, we have good news. The Oracle Technology Network guru has posted the audio from all of the TechCasts featured on Oracle OpenWorld Live.

Fully Integrated
John Parkinson, chief technology officer of a global credit and information management company, shares his thoughts about the integration road map Oracle presented at this year's show. See if you agree with his approach to the infrastructure balancing act.

On-Demand/SaaS Reality
Among the thousands of sessions and hundreds of exhibitions available at Oracle OpenWorld 2009, Gary Damiano focused on cloud computing and SaaS-based applications to better understand Oracle's intentions. Take a look at his thoughtful assessment of his days in the Moscone Center.

Exclusive Interview With Brent Leary on Social CRM and the Influence of Smart Phones
Dr. Natalie Petouhoff took some time during her Oracle OpenWorld schedule to sit down with Social CRM expert Brent Leary. Watch the video of their discussion about smart phone use that Dr. Nat just posted to her YouTube channel.

Tyler Says He Is Not Quitting Aerosmith
Earlier this week, we thought that the Oracle OpenWorld Appreciation Night might have been one of the last gigs ever for Aerosmith. But singer Steven Tyler joined guitarist Joe Perry onstage late in the week to assure fans he's not quitting. We hope not; they put on one heckuva show.

Here in the United States, we are observing Veterans Day. In Europe, today is Armistice Day or Remembrance Day. We commemorate the end of major hostilities of World War I by honoring all military veterans. At Oracle OpenWorld 2009, you may have met some servicemen and women participating in Oracle's Injured Veteran Job and Training Program who took the time to share their stories with the Oracle community during the show.

Oracle's Injured Veteran Job and Training Program is specifically designed to help women and men injured in the Afghanistan and Iraqi wars transition to civilian employment. In partnership with the Coalition to Salute America's Heroes, our goal is to provide injured veterans with employment experience that may lead to regular employment.

In our latest issue of Profit magazine, we meet Joshua Lawton-Belous, a vet with a traumatic brain injury who is participating in the program. He explains the difficulty some veterans have finding work when they return home, and points out the opportunities now available through the training program. Oracle's Diversity Director Jane Robertson says, "Our hope is that the folks who do participate will be significantly helped."

All of us working behind-the-scenes on Oracle OpenWorld wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of the veterans—and their families—for their service and sacrifice. If you know someone interested in joining the Injured Veteran Job and Training Program, have them download and complete the application. And, please take some time today to thank the men and women who serve.

In many cases, Oracle OpenWorld activities are aimed at helping you find new and improved processes for your day-to-day business and IT operations. But the conference is also about seeing the worlds of business and technology in a new way.

In this video interview from the conference floor, Thomas Oestreich, provides just such a big picture perspective. Watch Oracle's Chief Enterprise Performance Management Strategist share his thoughts on how risk management and performance management intersect to help protect against uncertainty.

For more Oracle videos, visit Oracle's YouTube channel.

The chatter about the show on the InterWebs is slowing down a bit, but we still found some interesting reading about your experiences at Oracle OpenWorld 2009. If you haven't been featured in our Around the World series, take this opportunity to add your two cents in our comments section.

Tweeters Attending OOW09
Before the show, we told you about—and added ourselves to—the list George Woods put together of Twitter users headed to Oracle OpenWorld 2009. Now that Twitter has released its Lists feature to all users, George has turned his list into a Twitter List. Follow it to keep in touch with all the great connections you made at the show.

Open World Wrap Up
Debra Lilley has been itching to talk about Fusion Applications. Now—finally—she can. But she also shares her overall impressions of the 2009 event. Check out both posts to get the perspective of the Deputy Chairman of the UKOUG.

Meeting My Fans
One of our favorite attendees at this year's show was Stanley, The ACE Vest. His agenda was very busy, including an Unconference session, despite recent surgery. But that didn't keep him away from his fans. See who shares a love for both Stanley and the great blue yonder. (Editor's note: Has anyone else noticed Stanley and Debra have similar writing styles?)

Oracle Usability Labs—A Day In The Life
Project Manager (and self-confessed BBQ King) Floyd Teter landed in San Francisco a few days before the start of Oracle OpenWorld for some preshow business he promised would "rock in the extreme." He wasn't kidding. Turns out, he spent the day at our Usability Lab here on campus. Take a look at what got him away from the BBQ grill a few days early.

Oracle OpenWorld is all about learning, and one way you can do that at the conference is by meeting with leaders and peers in various industries. We record these session so you can hear from people who use Oracle products to make a difference in their organizations, and in the world at large.

In this short video, Canadian Partnership Against Cancer's Director of IT Wayne Roberts explains how Oracle WebCenter Suite 11g and Oracle Secure Enterprise Search are helping his organization connect cancer patients, scientists, and caregivers. Using Oracle software, he's been able to create a community that enables collaboration—accelerating change in cancer management and research throughout Canada.

For more Oracle videos, visit our YouTube channel.

We're still scaring up what a lot of you are sharing about what you saw, heard, and learned at Oracle OpenWorld 2009. Take a look at our latest finds from the Web in this week's Around the World. If you have some tricks or treats to share about the show, let us know in the comments.

Oracle Open World 09 from a Newbie, Part 2
Oracle DBA and first-time attendee George Woods is putting together a few posts about his trip to San Francisco for the show. We got a mention in part one, and we're looking forward to part 3.

Reflections on a Different OpenWorld
We found the OracleBIBlog observations about the show refreshing. As long-time Oracle observers, it's nice to see the evolution of our product roadmap—and our presentation of it—from the eyes of show veterans.

NZ Developers Push Hard at OpenWorld
Rob O'Neill followed some independent software vendors from New Zealand to the Moscone Center. He put together a report for Computerworld about the return on their booth investments. See how they fared.

Banging on the Integration Drum
Malaysia's most widely-read English-language daily shares a great synopsis of our efforts to make your IT infrastructure work together flawlessly. From Oracle Exadata V2 to Oracle's JD Edwards ERP to the new Oracle Application Integration Architecture, writer Kelly Goh wraps it all together.

Oracle OpenWorld Fusion Apps Blogger Extravaganza
We found a large—and growing—collection of posts about Oracle Fusion Applications over at the InfoBox blog. Technical Director for HR Systems, Michael Krupa, has put together a great resource for perusing the variety of opinions out there. Give them a look, and share your own.

20 Amazing Pumpkin Carvings
Lastly—since some of you may be rushing to finish up your Halloween decorations before the first trick-or-treaters ring your bell—we thought we'd provide some inspiration for your pumpkin carving activities. We're particularly fond of the Iron Man design, for obvious reasons. Happy Halloween.

One of the most rewarding aspects of being at Oracle OpenWorld is meeting with attendees. We wanted to focus some of the discussion to find out your opinions about our event. So we invited you to share your thoughts at an Unconference session on the last day of the show.

Our informal roundtable of about two dozen people included a DBA, a PeopleSoft developer, and a government consultant, as well as Paul Salinger, Oracle VP of Marketing, OTN Editor-in-Chief Justin Kestelyn, and Tim and Marius from our hashtag#oow09 show. Here are a few things we found interesting during the discussion:

Better Unconference Promotion

Most of you loved the Unconference opportunity and style, but a few noted that it needed better promotion. It's a vital part of what makes the show great, so we'll make sure more people know about it next time.

More Mobile Updates
You want more opportunities to get updates on your handhelds. Whether its accessing our e-mails, receiving text messages about schedule changes, or using Bluetooth technology to share session audience information, we want to keep you informed. We're looking into all of your great suggestions.

Where's the Tweetup?
Sure, we had a Bloggers Meetup, but a few of you were surprised that there was no official Tweetup scheduled during the show. This was especially disappointing since George Woods put together such an extensive list of Tweeters attending. We promise to make amends in 2010.

Thanks to all those who attended the Unconference session. If you didn't get a chance to make it because you were still recovering from the Appreciation Event or glued to Oracle OpenWorld Live, you can still add to the discussion. We're following your updates and blog posts, and we read all your comments on our blog.

Another important way of weighing in is to take advantage of the Conference Survey. Your ideas and opinions get sent straight to the events team who have the monumental task of putting the show together every year. Let them know what you think so that your impressions and suggestions can shape an even better Oracle OpenWorld 2010.

By now—hopefully—you've recovered from the sessions, keynotes, travel, and parties. We've found many of you uploading your thoughts and images from the 2009 show. Here are some of our favorites. Add your own thoughts in the comments, and don't forget to take the Conference Survey.

Blogs About Oracle OpenWorld 2009
Our friends over at the Oracle Technology Network have put together a long list of blog reports about the 2009 event. There are a lot to digest, so get comfy. If you have one you want to add, let us know.

Back of House at Oracle OpenWorld
Nancy J. Wilson, a principal with Meeting Strategies Worldwide, took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Moscone Center during Oracle OpenWorld to see how we were conducting our green efforts. Take a look at what she found, and let us know what you saw.

Schwarzenegger Praises Oracle's Deal for Sun
Reporter Brandon Bailey of MercuryNews.com sums up California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's appearance at the Wednesday keynote. Read his take on what happens when super powers unite.

OOW 09 Take-Aways
We welcomed a number of Sun people to the show this year, including Tim Bray, Director of Web Technologies at Sun Microsystems. He shared some ideas with us at the Oracle Bloggers Meetup, and has since written a thought-provoking post about our marquee event. Let us know if you share some of his concerns.

More on Foursquare from Myself and Two Others
The Oracle Bloggers Meetup also gave us the chance to meet one of our favorite bloggers, John Bredehoft. We had a short discussion about Foursquare, a relatively new location-based mobile app that a few of us—like Tim, Marius, and yours truly—were using during the conference. If you checked in at the show, we want to know when you used it, where you used it, and how you want to use it next year.

Oracle OpenWorld 2009 Flickr Group
You took some great photos on the show floor. We found some of them through the oow09 tags on Picasa and Flickr. Feel free to add your shots to the Flickr Oracle OpenWorld 2009 Group Pool. ChannelWeb posted their own slideshow, as did CNET. We'd love to see more, so share!

If you skipped any of the Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) events at Oracle OpenWorld, you may have missed the announcement about the new OPN Specialized program launched at the OPN Forum.

Designed to help our partners gain differentiation and competitive edge, it represents a major evolution in our support program, with new partner levels and increased specializations in different product sets. Visit the OPN Website to find more details on the OPN Specialized program and our upcoming virtual event in December. Get ready to become "specialized."

If you're not an Oracle partner yet—but want to be—visit the OPN portal and catch-up on all of the keynotes, executive messages, video blogs, and session highlights at the Partner Experience Online.

More than 1,800 sessions. Four hundred partner exhibits. One amazing show. The curtain came to a close for Oracle OpenWorld 2009 Thursday afternoon under the Howard Street Tent at the It's a Wrap party.

Oracle customers, partners, and employees savored one final opportunity to network, and enjoyed one last reason to celebrate: another successful show. The Five Hundred sweated out favorites from Stevie Ray Vaughan, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and The Violent Femmes at the tent's east-end stage. Attendees got to put off finding room for all their tchotchkes for a few hours as they snacked on chili dogs, pasta salads, tacos and popsicles—a respite before return trips home.

We hope that your Oracle OpenWorld adventure was all you expected and more. We're always looking for ways to improve your experience. Take a few moments and fill out our conference survey. And watch these pages. We'll be bringing you stats from the show, perspectives from other blogs, and some follow-up stories on things you may have missed. Stay tuned; we're already planning for Oracle OpenWorld 2010!

The beers were cold. The rides were ready. The amps were turned up to 11. And then the party-goers poured in.

The Oracle OpenWorld Appreciation Event reset the bar for how to celebrate. With a boardwalk full of carnival games and rides at your disposal, we know you had plenty to keep you occupied. Add on the fantastic food and bevy of beverages, and you had ample fuel for the night, too.

But for us, the real attraction was the music. Shooter Jennings got the evening started with a bang in the tent under the shadow of the Century Wheel. Roger Daltrey and his band—featuring Simon Townshend—took the stage next, tearing through a set that included classics from The Who and a scorching version of "Summertime Blues." Closing out the roster under the tent was Three Dog Night, performing a solid set of crowd favorites from their catalog of timeless hits.

Over on the outdoor stage, Steven Tyler made a triumphant return to the spotlight, opening the Aerosmith set with "Eat the Rich!" The encore, fourteen songs later, proved beyond any doubt that the Aerosmith train just keeps a-rollin'. The Wailers closed out the evening sharing their legendary island sounds with the Treasure Island crowd.

Everywhere we turned, we found fun. From the NetApp Aussies ready for Aerosmith to our Over-dressed for Oracle OpenWorld V.I.P. winners to the friendly and knowledgeable staff at the Solutions booth, the smiles shone broad and abundant. The evening's success was due in large part to Hartmann Studios, the Oracle events team, sponsors CSC and NetApp and—most importantly—you. We hope that your night lived up to its epic billing.

Editor's Note: It's a Wrap! has been re-relocated to the Howard Street Tent, 4 p.m. Thursday.

Get ready to let loose at the last official event of Oracle OpenWorld: It's a Wrap! Running from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the Howard Street Tent, the party is your chance to unwind at the end of the conference. You won't want to miss the crowd-pleasing tunes provided by rock band The Five Hundreds.

The San Francisco-based band plays a mix of classic, indie, and punk rock, with a repertoire that includes hits from the likes of the Rolling Stones, Tom Petty, the Clash, and the Ramones. Oracle's own Tom Geck, who sings and plays rhythm guitar, leads the band. His bandmates include Marco Baroz on lead guitar, Stuart Burr on drums, and Brian Mellow on bass guitar.

Geck, an events manager at Oracle who works with exhibitors as part of the Oracle OpenWorld team, promises songs that show attendees can dance and sing along to.

"We're going to close out the week," says Geck. "It's a chance for everyone to let their hair down and celebrate the end of the conference." So if you're ready for a little bit of rock and roll, head to the Howard Street Tent on Thursday afternoon for Geck and his self-described "fun party band."

Get the full story in the Oracle OpenWorld Daily.

By Richard Levitt.

Wednesday's keynote featured Larry Ellison, Oracle CEO, and S. Gopalakrishnan, InfoSys Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director—plus a couple surprise guests.

The capacity audience was greeted by rock n' roll and animated graphics showing the building blocks of IT as they assembled and reassembled themselves into the infinite combinations of a modern technology stack.

First, Oracle President Charles Phillips introduced founder of the Who and Appreciation Event headliner Roger Daltrey.

Then S. Gopalakrishnan spoke of trends that define successful business: simplification, adaptivity, moving from value chains to value webs, smarter organizations, and strategic partnering.

"This is the time to focus on innovation," he said.

Then Larry Ellison came on stage and taught a master class in enterprise data management, starting with an update on Oracle Enterprise Linux , and continuing with a gleeful description of Oracle Exadata V2, the new Sun Oracle collaboration that has broken all records for data warehousing and OLTP performance.

After extolling the many virtues of Oracle's latest innovation, Ellison pointedly backed his claim of unmatchable performance. "If anyone wants to make $10 million, prove me wrong," he offered, pointing out that the performance of Oracle Exadata V2 comes at about one-quarter the cost of a comparable IBM system.

His presentation was punctuated by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who came onstage and spoke about technology and its economic and social importance. "It's the bridge to solving problems in the 21st century," he said. The Governor then invited attendees to stay after the event and enjoy California. Half joking he added, "We need the revenue."

Ellison then continued with a demo of a new product support tool, based on the merged power of MyOracle Support, Oracle Enterprise Manager, and a collaborative, global configuration database. "It's proactive, unified, and personalized," he said.

Finally he offered a brief summary of Oracle Fusion Applications, Oracle's next generation BI-based suite of software and tools. "We understand that our customers have an enormous investment in existing applications, and we're going to continue to enhance those applications for the next decade and beyond," said Ellison. "We not only maintain the software of today, but we build the software of tomorrow, so you can move, if you want to, when you want to."

Did you see the keynote? Share your thoughts here.