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For a change of pace I thought it would be good to  mention a few of the things I think that Oracle is doing right.   Over the last several years I continue to be impressed with what I see coming out of Oracle related to their product directions and new products.  Here’s my take on the things I see Oracle doing right.

The first one I’ll note is that Oracle is doing a great job at maintaining a Leadership Role in software innovation.  It’s obvious if you look at various evaluations such as the “Magic Quadrant” by Gartner that Oracle’s products are consistently in the top right quadrant where market leaders are found.  Here are a few Oracle products that I’ve had the opportunity to work with.

• E-Business Suite R12 – R12 is more evolutionary than revolutionary but it significantly improves on what was a solid release in 11i by expanding the international capabilities of this massive applications suite.  With over 224 separate modules, R12 is mind-boggling in it’s scope of capabilities.  Oracle gets some dings for the bugs that were found in the first year  but they’ve quickly addressed the core issues in the releases leading up to release 12.1.  While there is an improved user interface the real changes are beneath the surface and which improve the productivity of everyday users.
• 11g Database – there are many people who are better qualified to speak on this product than I but as one who has been working with the Oracle database since the last legs of version 6 I’m amazed that  Oracle continues to add useful and valuable capabilities to this workhorse of a database system.  In the areas of performance, operating systems supported, scalability and reliability the Oracle database keeps most of the world’s business working smoothly.  Yes the management interfaces are not as slick as they could be but the newer versions of Oracle Enterprise Manager tend to overwhelm me with information.  The power of PL/SQL remains a constant in the middle of all of the changes we have seen over the years.  Each new release allows more parameters to be changed on the fly rather than requiring downtime.  Recently introduced capabilities that I think will change the future of data management include Real Applications Testing, Active Data Guard, Database Vault and Total Recall.  There’s much more and I’ll probably get dinged in my comments for leaving it out but enough said.
• Fusion Middleware 11g – Just released and while most of us are still trying to digest it all let me summarize it as a significant statement of Oracle’s capabilities to innovate dozens of products and continually integrate them in ways that architects, developers and management can better deliver business solutions that evolve more and more quickly.  The introduction of better technologies from the BEA acquisition has positioned Oracle to be the dominant player in this market.
• JDeveloper 11g – This IDE has to compete with dozens of other great Java IDE’s like Eclipse and Aptana but still is a stand out.  This product offers all the bells and whistles including the ability to interact with all areas of the database and middleware environments that Oracle offers.  Additionally the capabilities of the Application Development Framework simplify the development of very robust user interfaces incorporating the best Web 2.0 goodies.  Using JDeveloper I can do Use Case design, write code, test, develop a database design and still not delve all of its capabilities.
• Fusion Applications – Though not yet  released this coming Applications Suite will introduce an innovative User Interface that is a mash-up of the best of Web 2.0 and what Oracle has learned from it’s product acquisitions (such as PeopleSoft).  Built on Oracle Fusion Middleware capabilities this application will bring Service Oriented Architecture and more industry-standards to the underlying technology stack.    The focus on improving user productivity already seen in the UI will be much appreciated by those who do the real daily work of running the details of a business.
• Miscellaneous - Kudos to Oracle for supporting the Open Source community by releasing versions of products that they have developed (see here).

Ok, it’s time to take a rest from this area of adulation and move to the second item I think Oracle has done well.  I’ll cover that in the next post.