Oracle's fiscal 4Q sales disappoint Wall St. again

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Oracle is still having trouble closing enough business software deals to keep Wall Street happy.

The quarterly results announced Thursday could escalate investors' fears about Oracle's ability to adapt to the changing demands of its customers. Businesses and government agencies are increasingly buying software through monthly or annual subscriptions that enable employees to access applications on any machine with an Internet connection. This "cloud computing" approach is a shift from Oracle's traditional approach of licensing software that is installed on individual computers kept on the premises of its customers.

Oracle has been rolling out more cloud computing options through acquisitions and in-house development, but its recent performance is raising questions about its ability to compete in this growing market. The cloud computing shift is being led by smaller companies that were set up to focus on leasing software over the Internet. This group includes Salesforce.com Inc., Workday Inc. (WDAY) and NetSuite Inc., a company backed by Oracle CEO Larry Ellison.

Like other software makers born decades ago, Oracle and longtime rival SAP are trying to mine new markets while still clinging to the old way of doing things because the familiar sales methods still bring in most of the company's revenue.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20130620/DA71NSHG2.html

[DallasNE]

1. I Have Never Understood The Success Of Oracle On The Merits

When I took a couple of classes on using Oracle the thing that jumped out to me was how CPU inefficient it was compared to native DB2 and when you tack on the licensing fee I thought it was a poor choice. I always thought it was a tribute to the sales force that didn't try to sell it to the technical people but instead used slick demos for senior management who wrote the checks and then senior management said to the technical people make it work. Maybe things are finally catching up with them with cloud computing. But I'm retired now so I don't have to worry about such things any more.