What's Happening?

Years ago, when I was a much younger man…wearing bell-bottom jeans so large I had to step twice before the pant leg moved at all…people would great each other with the phrase “What’s happening?” Seems like a good time to resurrect that greeting and give ya’all some answers:

• For all the middleware types out there, the Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g Launch event is July 1^st at 10 am EST (US). If you’re not attending the event live in Washington D.C., you can catch the webcast.

• If you’re more into the applications, the OAUG Fusion Council will be holding their quarterly update call on July 1^st at 9 am PST (US). In the spirit of full disclosure, you should know that I’m hosting this call, so this is an unabashed plug. BTW, it’s a bit unfortunate that we have a schedule conflict with the 11g Launch; the good news is that we’re recording the call so that you can listen to it on demand. More info on the call here.

• The Oracle Mix “Vote-A-Session” for this year’s Oracle OpenWorld wraps up voting on July 3^rd. So get yourself over to the Mix voting site and cast votes for the sessions you’d most like to see (Oracle Mix login required).

So it looks like we’ll all be busy for the next few day. What's happening? Tons o' stuff.

Social Networking - My Love-Hate Relationship

Lately, I’ve developed a love-hate relationship with social networking. Seeing my therapist about it, but can’t seem to work a breakthrough. This love-hate thing is founded on a couple of points.

I've experienced the personal value add: I’ve benefited greatly from some of the discussions around social networking. Not the “do you know classic rock quiz” or “I’m getting a cup of juice now” types of discussions, but the real meaty stuff like “using bind variables in pl/sql”. Overcome more than a few tough challenges with info coming to me through social networking. Love that part of it.

Quantifying the value add is another story. I can’t run any numbers or show a solid cost reduction with social networking. Which is why the execs at my company (and many others) still see social networking as kind of a cute concept, but a waste of time in the office. Hate that part of it.

Back to the love part. I’ve nearly stopped using Google Reader or any other aggregators altogether. With the exception of a few general news sources, I get most of my reading material every day from suggestions brought to my attention via Twitter. It’s low-maintenance, concise, and has definitely expanded my technical horizons.

The hate part? I think Twitter may have jumped the shark. Every day brings more advertising spam and new followers with whom I have nothing in common. I’ve become pretty selective recently about adding to my Twitter network, but I still can’t help but think that the growth in Twitter spam portends bad things for the future (for further reference, see MySpace).

More hate venting here. Facebook has become a royal pain for me. Far too much maintenance, too much spam, too much of a time sink. I’m barely even in sustaining mode with Facebook anymore. I do check in about once a week, mostly out of a sense of obligation, but I’m even slacking off on that.

Now for some love. I think the real value of social networking is not just in making the connections between people with common interests. In fact, I suspect that may be the tip of the iceberg. The real value, at least in the enterprise, comes of mining that data and leveraging the information obtained through that mining. Imagine building a software development project team with the eight or nine people who put the most energy into discussing iterative development or J2EE or WebLogic or…well, you get the idea. We’ll finally be able to not only map the informal network that exists within an enterprise (including those participants who would not be normally considered as part of the enterprise organization), we’ll also be able to identify and organize people by common interests, skills, or performance levels. That promises to shake up a few business models.

This last point is not as far into the future as you might think. There are social networking elements in the upcoming release of Oracle Fusion Applications (the “social mesh” functionality is very impressive – check it out if you get the chance). I suspect these elements will get enough traction from users that it won’t take long to see similar functionality in Oracle Applications Unlimited product lines. Ditto for competitors in the enterprise software space. Personally, I’m looking forward to tipping the social networking scales in favor of the love...especially when my therapist has to find another chump to make his mortgage payments.

It's Contagious

I've concluded from personal experience that the results of good design are contagious. A little over a year ago, I bought an iPhone. I didn't buy it for the great functionality (frankly, there are plenty of smart phones with more functionality than the iPhone). I bought the iPhone because, once I held one in my hand and used it, all other smart phones were ruined for me. The design, which resulted in a unique user experience, sealed the deal for me: the feel, the user interface, the intuitive use won me over. Shortly thereafter, my wife decided she wanted an iPhone too...same reasons. Last November, I switched over from a PC to an iMac to my home machine. I only considered an iMac because of the halo effect from my iPhone. Then I discovered the lower total cost of ownership, the higher reliability. Then I used one for a few minutes and another unique user experience as a result of the iMac/OS X design, so I made the leap. Any guesses what happened next?

I spent a few hours this weekend setting up my wife's new iMac (actually, she fired it up; I just moved her data from her Windows box and installed a few software programs). She's working with it in her home office (down the hallway from mine) as I write this. Every few minutes, I hear a laugh of glee as she discovers more about working with the iMac and OS X. Seems Apple has yet another convert.

I've written here before about how design matters. Seems to me that the folks at Apple have the design thing worked out pretty well, especially in terms of interaction with the end user. OS X is a much cleaner and more intuitive interface than Windows XP or Vista (Windows 7 too, although I haven't seen the latest beta). Not to mention no Blue Screen Of Death, no viruses (although that could be changing even as I write this), etc. Even opening the packaging for an Apple product is an experience. My takeaway from my Apple experience (so far) is that people care about design in terms of the way in which they interact with a product or system. In other words, design is not just about form but also about function.

Let's take the idea of design into the world of enterprise software. When is the last time anybody heard some laugh with glee over the user interface for an enterprise application like my wife is chortling over her new iMac (I just heard another one)? While I don't think I've heard such a reaction to an enterprise app UI in years, I do believe we may see that type of reaction in the future. Some of the UI features I've seen in Fusion Apps are pretty exciting. I've also seen some really cool things in the works at Oracle's Usability Labs, where they're emphasizing the manner in which design affects the entire user experience. So it really doesn't matter whether we're talking desktop computers or enterprise applications (or cars or toasters or refrigerators), the relationship between design and the user experience matters. And when you get the design right, the joy of your users can be downright contagious.

Back From A Brief Hiatus

This is a bit of a self-indulgent post, but I though I should explain why it's been some time since I've posted here. A few reasons for the hiatus:

• Busy, busy: lots of things going on in the personal life...all good, but currently very time-consuming. That's what being the parent of seven children will get ya!

• Writer's block: had a hard time coming up with things to write about. Not for lack of events in the industry, just struggling about writing things up.

• Blogging fade: personally, blogging lately has felt like working with a stone tablet, hammer and chisel. There are lots of different and less labor-intensive ways to get your thoughts out and get a discussion going.

I've pretty well worked through the first two items, but the third still weighs on my mind a bit. Still working through my thoughts on it...

If I Were Going To Collaborate

I'm not attending Collaborate 09. Tough economy, tight budget, massive workload...you know the story. It's a real shame I can't make it, as I see Collaborate as an event that provides a substantial return on investment.

If I were going to Collaborate this year, there are a few things I would focus on and watch for:

1) As Oracle continues to advance through acquisitions, integrating the various software components becomes a continually large piece of their evolutionary process. In that process, the Applications Integration Architecture is becoming even more significant. I'd spend some time at Collaborate learning about AIA.

2) There seems to be significant activity around an impending E-Business 12.1 release. If I could get a look at EBS 12.1 at Collaborate, I'd take the opportunity to do so.

3) The Oracle story these days continues to revolve around Fusion Middleware. Collaborate will provide some opportunities to hear some customer experiences about Fusion Middleware, especially BPEL (which sort of leads us back in the direction of AIA, doesn't it?)

4) Collaborate will include a "live drive" of Fusion Applications. If you're attending Collaborate and haven't seen Fusion Apps yet, the demo is definitely worth the time you'll invest.

5) With maintenance becoming such a significant portion of IT budgets, this is not the year to neglect gathering new information on Oracle Support. Learn how to get the most value from your maintenance dollars by spending a few minutes with any member of the OAUG Customer Support Council.

6) There is an old saying in the enterprise applications world: "applications come and go, but the data remains." Truer words were never spoken. If you're an Oracle apps user and you don't know much about the database, you're missing knowledge on the most critical element of your software technology stack. Collaborate is a great place to start learning about the database.

OK, I'm admittedly painting with a pretty broad brush here. That's one of the best things about Collaborate...there's some much to see, hear and learn. For more detail, check out my previous post on "What Looks Good To Me" from Collaborate 09. Ya'all enjoy the conference...

The Value Of Knowing The Plumbing

This past weekend was a very busy one for me. Friday night BBQ, spent some time with my granddaughter, worked with the Oracle SOA Suite to expand my skills, and had a chore list a mile long to work through on Saturday. So when a leak showed up in my bathroom shower Saturday morning, my "To Do" list for the day was already full. Thought I’d save some time and just call a plumber. Said plumber shows up and takes a look at the leak. He informs me that the leak is caused by a worn-out faucet seal. He also informs me that my type of bathroom faucet (a Delta Monitor) can’t really be rebuilt and recommends replacing the Delta with another type of faucet. Says he’ll have to cut a hole in the wall, cut out the piping, install new piping and a new faucet. He then hands me an estimate of $1,700, which does not include repairing the hole in the wall. I experience a brief but powerful thought of all the ways I’d rather spend my $1,700. At this point, I realize my chore list for the day has just changed. I politely, but firmly, thank the plumber for his time and show him the door.

Having fired the plumber, I plunked down in front of my iMac and googled up instructions for replacing a Delta Monitor faucet. 90 minutes later (including a trip to Home Depot) and $37.50 poorer (the cost of a replacement cartridge for the faucet), my leaky shower is fixed.

The lesson here? Sometimes it just pays to get your hands dirty and do things yourself.

In my shop, we’re finding the same idea applies to Oracle software. We work through extending our apps and installing new ones, mostly without outside help. We also diagnose and fix around 60 percent of issues that arise without direct assistance from Oracle Support. In our approach to doing so, we follow the same formula that I followed in fixing my leaky faucet: diagnose the cause, research the issue, dig into the technology, then fix the problem. Yes, there is a learning curve involved and some cost associated with that learning, but the payback comes when those skills are used to address similar issues in the future.

One example is our experience with Java and J2EE. We’ve had a few subject matter experts on our team, but the knowledge wasn’t really wide-spread until recently. A few years ago, we opted to use the Oracle Applications Framework ("OAF") to build some EBS extensions supporting an iProcurement rollout. Doing so compelled more team members to build up their Java skills. There was a learning curve, but we saw a big return as we moved to Oracle’s Application Development Framework ("ADF") for building our custom applications. While OAF and ADF are definitely different frameworks, there is enough in common that our developers picked it up quickly. Now they use those well-developed skills to troubleshoot and resolve issues we encounter in our EBS and custom development applications, as well as issues related to our use of Oracle Fusion Middleware ("OFM") components.

The big benefit to the "do it yourself" approach: the better we know the apps and the underlying technology, the better we are at implementing and operating those apps in a way that maximizes the value for our organization. Understanding the "plumbing" of Oracle software helps us leverage the software to drive value in our enterprise. I’ll say it again...sometimes it just pays to get your hands dirty and do things yourself.

Oracle Buying Sun - Speculative Fun

So the news is out about Oracle acquiring Sun. It's an interesting acquisition from several perspectives, even though I'm still surprised that Oracle and HP did not team up on this deal (with Oracle getting the software and HP getting the hardware). I usually try not to engage in too much speculation, but playing "what if" with this deal is just too good to pass up. So let's have some speculative fun, shall we?

IMHO, the highlights of this deal are Java and Solaris:

• Oracle has built Fusion Middleware on Java and, assuming this deal goes through, Oracle will own Java lock, stock and barrel. Although I suspect Oracle will still support the open community model, I expect they will attempt to drive the development of future Java standards rather than simply participating.
  

• So far as Solaris goes, Oracle can now engineer a widely-used operating system in conjunction with designing their database, middleware, tools and applications. This could lead to better synchronization between the various components in the software technology stack. I don't see much of a long-term future for "Unbreakable Linux" as Oracle's offering in the enterprise operating systems space now that Solaris is in the Oracle corral.

I'm speculating that MySQL is a non-starter here. One thing I don't anticipate is Oracle continuing to grow and support MySQL as a product. From my perspective, Oracle is first and foremost a database company with their own Oracle database product line. I think it's up to the MySQL community to keep it going...probably not a bad thing if you're a MySQL user.

Another consideration, so long as we're having fun here: Oracle's acquisition of Sun could really give some legs to OpenOffice. How many enterprises would consider OpenOffice as an alternative to MicroSoft Office if OpenOffice offered superior integration with their Oracle products? Hmmmmm...just a thought.

The hardware portion of Sun offers the most interesting opportunity for speculation (and make no mistake, this is all speculation...I have no inside scoop here). I can see it going any one of a number of ways:

• Sun's hardware business has recently evolved into a supply-chain based operation. Oracle could simply shut down that supply chain and let the hardware business fizzle out. Admittely not likely, but possible.

• Oracle could spin the hardware business off to another buyer (HP? Dell?) or as a separate entity.
  

• Oracle could jump in and compete in the hardware marketplace.
  

• Oracle could take the Apple integrated design and sales approach; offering integrated enterprise systems. Offering server, storage, operating system, middleware, development tools and business apps in several levels of integrated, "turn-key" enterprise systems may be a compelling product line for many customers. The value proposition would be ease of use. Imagine taking the iPhone-Touch-iPod-Shuffle approach to the design and sale of enterprise systems.

Whether any of my speculation is accurate or not, one thing is for certain: as I write this, we're in the early hours of a change that will significantly alter the landscape of enterprise software. Oracle can now truely offer products throughout the enterprise technology stack, with the exception of a web browser for thin client presentation. Gosh, I wonder how much the Mozilla team would want for Firefox?

OK, I was just kiddin' about the Firefox comment...don't anybody start a rumor here. In fact, all this speculation has been more in the spirit of fun than anything else. I'm not at all tapped into what Oracle's leadership is thinking here; those folks are proving to be much smarter than I am. In fact, I'll be many of you have a better perspective about this deal than the thoughts I've laid out here. Why don't you hit the comments and share with the rest of us?

Collaborate 09 - What Looks Good To Me

Collaborate 09 is almost here, taking place May 3 - 9 in Orlando, Florida. Unfortunately, I won’t be attending Collaborate this year. The budget is too tight and the workload is too high for me to get there. It’s a tough choice, as I always get huge value from attending Collaborate, but it’s a necessary choice this year.

If I were attending, the focus points for me this year would be Fusion Architecture (middleware and applications…especially the Applications Integration Architecture or “AIA”), E-Business, and Support. For those of you who are able to attend, I’ve highlighted some sessions in these focus areas that look especially good to me. I’ve laid out the sessions by subject, using a format of session id, title, presenter, presenter’s company, date, time. There are some scheduling conflicts in my list but, as I’ve written before, that’s a key indicator of a good conference. Keep in mind that session scheduling could very well change between this time I write this and the time the conference begins. You should stay current by using the Agenda Builder at www.oaug.com.

So here you go…if you get to Orlando, have some rock shrimp for me!

Oracle Executive Sessions

Oracle’s Strategy Update for Best-in-Class Applications and Next Generation Technology, Charles Phillips, President, Monday, 9:30

2921 - Oracle E-Business Suite Applications Strategy and General Manager Update, Cliff Godwin, Senior Vice President of Applications Development, Monday, 10:45

62430 - What Should I do? Strategic Applications Planning for PeopleSoft Customers, John Webb, Vice President, PeopleSoft Enterprise Product Strategy, Tuesday, 11:00

2862 - Keynote Support Executive Session — Future of Support, Jim Patrice, Senior Vice President, Global Customer Support, Tuesday, 1:30

2864 – Communities, Medi Goker, Vice President, Global E-Business Suite Support, Tuesday, 3:15

2825 - Business Transformation with AIA and MDM, Jose Lazares, Vice President, Applications Development and Applications Integration Architecture, Monday, 2:30

2792 - Oracle Fusion Applications — Applications for the Next Generation Organization (Part I), Steve Miranda, Senior Vice President, Chris Leone, Group Vice President, Fusion and GRC Applications Development, Wednesday, 8:30

2793 - Oracle Fusion Applications — Applications for the Next Generation Organization (Part II), Steve Miranda, Senior Vice President, Chris Leone, Group Vice President, Fusion and GRC Applications Development, Wednesday, 9:45

2790 - Oracle Running Oracle, Bret Fuller, Senior Vice President, Thursday, 8:30

Fusion Architecture

1094 - Oracle Data Integrator (ODI) For Conversion, Vineet Rai (Infosys Technologies Limited, Bangalore), Monday 8:00-9:00

2586 - BI Publisher Quick Start Guide, Karen Brownfield (Solution Beacon, LLC), Monday 8:00-9:00

779 - Oracle's Vision, Strategy and Roadmap for Portals and User Interaction , Rahul Patel (Oracle), Monday 10:45-11:45

702 - Getting Started with SOA, Chris Ostrowski (TUSC), Monday 10:45-11:45

782 - WebCenter Interaction Roadmap (ALUI), Ajay Gandhi (Oracle), Monday 1:15-2:15

2786 - 10 Things You Can Do Today to Prepare your Path to the Future - Part 1 Nadia Bendjedou (Oracle), Monday 1:15-2:15

2869 - The Evolution of Oracle Data Integration, Denis Gray (Oracle), Monday 1:15-2:15

1459 - Best practices for Master Data Management: Product Information Masters and Transformation Hubs, Amit Garg (CRMantra), Monday 2:30-3:30

1903 - Oracle BAM (Business Activity Monitoring) as Oracle SAM for System Activity Monitoring, Shivaprasad Kambalimath (Infosys Consulting Inc), Monday 2:30-3:30

2825 - Rapid Deployment of Applications with Application Integration Architecture and Master Data Management, Jose Lazares (Oracle), Monday 2:30-3:30

785 - Bringing it All Together: Oracle Web Center Interaction, Universal Content Management, Identity Management & Secure Search (Chick-fil-A, ALUI) , Jay Taylor (Chick-Fil-A); Brian Lucas (Chick-Fil-A), Monday 3:45-4:45

786 - Oracle WebLogic Portal Roadmap, Josh Lannin (Oracle), Monday 3:45-4:45

1128 - Bullet-proof SSO & OBIEE: Implementing a Single-Sign-On Solution with Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition, Brad Reinders (BI CONSULTING GROUP), Monday 3:45-4:45

2887 - Zero Sign-on to EBS - Enabling 96000 users to login to EBS without user maintenance, Doug Pepka (Comcast Cable Communication), Monday 3:45-4:45

2727 - Oracle BPEL Training, Basheer Khan (Innowave Technology), Tuesday 9:45-10:45

1800 - Integration of Banner Student information to Oracle Financials using SOA Tools, Kiran Pasham (EiS Technologies, Inc.), Tuesday 9:45-10:45

3191 - A Common Sense Approach to Building Next Generation Business Systems leveraging the SOA Framework, Peter Lang (Protege Software Services), Tuesday 11:00-11:30

113 - Oracle Fusion Middleware and Oracle Applications - Application Server Strategy and Status Mike Lehmann (Oracle), Tuesday 11:00-12:00

790 - WebLogic Portal Essentials: 10 Things Oracle Brings to WebLogic Portal, Josh Lannin (Oracle), Tuesday 11:00-12:00

2732 - What Oracle E-Business Suite Customers Can Do with Oracle Fusion Middleware Today, Nadia Bendjedou (Oracle), Tuesday 1:30-2:30

2137 - Picking Up the Pieces After All the Oracle Acquisitions: Developing an Oracle Applications Roadmap, David Rudzinsky (Hologic, Inc), Tuesday 3:15-4:15

2918 - 10 Things You Can Do Today to Prepare your Path to the Future - Part 2 [Panel] , Nadia Bendjedou (Oracle), Tuesday 3:15-4:15

737 - Oracle Fusion Middleware - Tales from the Trenches, Paul Dorsey (Dulcian, Inc.), Wednesday 9:45-10:45

1129 - Buy vs. Build - What's the real value of pre-built BI Analytic Applications?, Amy Mayer (BI Consulting Group), Wednesday 11:00-12:00

1162 – Service Oriented Architecture Introduction For Business Users, Robert McMillen (Triora Group LLC), Wednesday 11:00-12:00

2198 - Using Oracle Application Integration Architecture Foundation Pack to Build a Best-of-Breed Landscape, Michael Rulf (AT&T), Wednesday 11:00-12:00

1443 - Uncover Design Patterns In Composite Applications Using Oracle Application Integration Architectur, Ramesh Chandra Revuru (Sierra Atlantic Inc), Wednesday 1:30-2:30

1657 - A Technical Roadmap for Oracle Fusion Middleware, E-Business Suite Release 12 and Oracle Fusion Applications, John Stouffer (Independent), Wednesday 3:15-4:15

2307 - Cross-Application Data Integrity Considerations When Integrating Packages Using Middleware, Miles Thomas (Tesco plc), Wednesday 4:30-5:30

2784 - Maximize the Value of Your Investments in Applications with End to End Process Integrations, Devesh Sharma (Oracle), Wednesday 4:30-5:30

2432 - Fusion Architecture - A Technical Perspective, Kevin Dahl (Solution Beacon, LLC), Thursday 11:00-12:00

1797 - Bam! We Have Integration - Using SOA Suite/ODI/BAM To Monitor Your Integration Layer , Ahmed Aboulnaga (IT Convergence Corporation), Thursday 12:15-1:15

1609 - The ABCs of AIA , Michael Butler (TUSC), Thursday 12:15-1:15

E-Business

2392 - Achieving Excellence in Customer Service and Support- Today's Primary Goal in The High Tech Industry, Chiranjib Sarkar (Quantum Corporation), Monday 1:15-2:15

1458 - From the Trenches: An e-Business Suite R12- 11g Implementation, Jerry Ireland (Rightsizing, Inc.), Tuesday 9:45-10:45

2739 - Using Oracle Application Server 10g with Oracle E-Business Suite, Steven Chan (Oracle), Tuesday 9:45-10:45

1873 - Using Oracle VM To Support An Oracle E-Business Suite Environment , Michael Brown (Colibri Limited Company), Tuesday 11:00-12:00

3027 – Wizarding Your Way To Release 12, Brian Bent, Tuesday, 1:30-2:30

1854 - Case study: Customer Service Portal Using Oracle iSupport, Anant Soni, Wednesday 4:30-5:30

2585 - Workflow Performance Tuning, Karen Brownfield (Solution Beacon, LLC), Wednesday 4:30-5:30

1068 - Extending Oracle E-Business Suite In A Supported and Upgradeable Manner , Srini Chavali (Cummins, Inc.), Thursday 9:45-10:45

2554 - What's New in Workflow: 11i RUP5, RUP6 and R12, Karen Brownfield (Solution Beacon, LLC), Thursday 9:45-10:45

Support

780 - How to Best Utilize Oracle Customer Support, Mark Middleton (Oracle), Monday 12:00-12:30

61970 - Working Effectively with Oracle Utilities Support, Jennifer Borders (Oracle Corporation), Monday 3:45-4:45

2865 - My Oracle Support Proactive/Predictive Health Checks, Hiran Patel (Oracle), Wednesday 8:30-9:30

2866 - My Oracle Support Best Practices: Deployment, Installation, Maintenance And Usage, Anthony Cavotta (Oracle), Wednesday 9:45-10:45

3153 - Application Upkeep in a Downturn, Michael Rulf (AT&T), Wednesday 10:15-10:45

1334 - Support Tips and Tricks: Resolve Service Requests Faster, or Avoid Some All Together, James Phipps (Oracle Corp), Thursday 8:30-9:30