Springtime In The Rockies - Thursday

It's getaway day for most attendees...Collaborate 08 is winding down today. Collaborate was a very different experience for me this year. I usually spend a great deal of my time at conferences networking and gathering information. This year, my schedule was so hectic that I just didn't have much chance to do any of that. My schedule was so packed that there were entire parts of the conference I never saw (the Exhibit Floor and the Relaxation Lounge come to mind) and people I never got to see (Tim Dexter, Judi Platz, and Sarah Wroble, among others) - so I leave feeling like I missed some things.

I tried to compensate by spending a good deal of my Thursday morning wandering through the Convention Center and gathering impressions from different attendees. Some consistent questions and concerns came out repeatedly:

• Most apps customers, regardless of the product line, don't see how the Application Integration Architecture fits into their apps.

• E-Business customers don't see the business value in upgrading to Release 12. In fact, most E-Business customers are not even aware that Oracle has upgraded to Release 12 for their own internal operations.

• Although customers are aware of BPEL now, Business Process Analysis has not gained much traction with them.

How will the anticipated acquisition of BEA impact the Fusion architecture?

Great flight home, but my checked bag was inspected by TSA again. They've checked my bag on every leg of every trip for the past two years. I must be on somebody's "hot list" of potential security threats. Next time I'm going to leave them a note...or maybe stuff my suitcase with those paper snakes that will jump out when they open the bag ;)