Expanding Section: How Oracle’s Development Differs from Database to Application

The dual nature of Oracle is expressed in how development occurs differently with its database from its applications.

  1. Oracle’s Database Development: Oracle is well known for the talent in its database development group. Oracle is constantly pushing innovation in its database and every new version tends to include capabilities that other databases do not have. As we will discuss, Oracle’s RDBMS database is running out of areas it can develop where it does not add unnecessary complexity to the database and compete with functionalities that are for instance better managed in other software categories, virtualization  (VMware) being a prominent example.
  2. Oracle’s Application Development: Unlike Oracle’s database, Oracle’s applications are entirely acquired. After an application is acquired by Oracle, there is a predictable loss of talent within the acquired vendors after they transition to becoming Oracle employees. This is particularly true among the most central employees to each of the vendors. This leakage of central employees is credited as a reason why Oracle’s applications do not tend to progress very much after they are acquired. This is sometimes referred to as the Computer Associates (CA) model.

In fact, outside of its database, Oracle has had demonstrated a great difficulty in developing either new applications or further significantly developing applications that it acquires. Large software vendors run into diseconomies of scale in managing large software portfolios. The advantage to size is found in the marketing and account control of these vendors.

Category: Oracle