OTN TechBlog

Well, I must apologize about my utter failure to communicate during the
past two days. I underestimated my workload as a facilitator, in
addition to the fact that the wifi was absolutely horrendous - even when I had some
downtime, I was unable to get online.

Proud to say
that the working group that AppsLab Jake and I facilitated came out on
top in the "gaming" dimension of the summit (but that particular part
of the process was purely tactical - a means of keeping people
involved). What do you say, Jake?


I
was pleased to have an opportunity to meet Charles Phillips, who took
the time to speak with each group individually about their learnings.
It was also nice to hear acknowledgment that OTN has been on the
leading edge in this area for some time, and that it's time for the
rest of the organization to catch up.


The summit was a mind-opener,
for sure. To pain the picture in very broad strokes, I'm confident in
saying that the global organization is now on the same page about
things like the value of trading control for influence, promoting
transparency, and working with the rest of the eco-system
collaboratively in ways that do not necessarily involve technology. It
will be very interesting to see where this all goes, and I intend to
let you know what and when.


The best thing though? Working with people like Oracle Julio, Paul Salinger, Jake, Marius, Tim Bonnemann, Karen Tillman, and many others to change the culture for the better. I think we're well on our way.

Eddie Awad rides again: Eddie has crafted a new Ning-based online Oracle community. I'm starting to have trouble keeping track of these things.

With a membership of 150, the Oracle Technology Network Group within Oracle Mix has a rather high ceiling - which is to say, we need a lot more OTN members in our group!

I'll be posting questions and ideas there in increasing frequency because Mix is such a good tool for networking and interaction. I've dabbled in Facebook as well, but the spam level there is just rising too high for me now.

So please, take a moment to join the OTN group on Mix!

The PHP-heads among you who intend to register for the 2008 PHP Quebec Conference in March will enjoy a piece of swag that is sure to become legendary: The Oracle elePHPant.



You can't say we never contribute to the community, now.

All kidding aside, this conference is a great place to catch up about Oracle Database 11g features that help PHP apps scale considerably better, most notably DRCP. Oracle's Kuassi Mensah will be keynoting on that topic.

You can also ask Kuassi (and other database vendors) any question you like during the Databases Q&A session. Loose cannons are welcome.

According to my friends at Evans Data Corp., a survey of 1,400 database app developers and IT managers worldwide has found that the "most satisfied" database customers are users of Oracle Database 10g or 11g. SQL Server, MySQL, Informix, Postgres, DB2 were all included in this survey, with categories comprising Performance (speed), Security, Scalability, Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation of transactions, Durability of transactions, and Quality of data modeling tools. Rather complete.

As a general rule I am skeptical of all surveys and contests, but this rather bold statement from the report stands out:

In most cases the product that has the most overall user satisfaction, as measured when all relative rankings are combined, is usually strongest in a few areas, weak in a few, but mostly near the top in all. Oracle, however, breaks that mold. Oracle users absolutely love their database.

Well, this pretty much says it all: "Oracle users absolutely love their database." In fact, I would compare this level of personal attachment favorably to that of any alternative, any time.

I have to admit that I have personally underestimated this commitment several times. Look no further for an example than (former Oracle ACE) Howard Rogers, who shut down his own public advocacy of Oracle technology in protest to a game of "blog-tag" that temporarily flooded the Oracle blogosphere recently. Howard is such a passionate advocate that he will brook no interference with serious public conversations about the Oracle RDBMS. Now, that's what I call passion.

You can download the report here (reg required). BTW, if you are attending EDC's upcoming Developer Relations Conf in Redwood Shores, drop in on my session while you're there.