Comments on: Fighting yesterday’s war http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/02/14/fighting-yesterdays-war/ Jeff Nolan's take on investment, innovation, entrepreneurship and the technology industry Fri, 19 Mar 2010 05:50:28 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Venture Chronicles http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/02/14/fighting-yesterdays-war/comment-page-1/#comment-1327 Venture Chronicles Mon, 24 Apr 2006 23:42:01 +0000 http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/02/14/fighting-yesterdays-war/#comment-1327 [...] Your recent post suggests that Ellison is positioning Oracle for the switch to a subscription revenue model as affirmation of your belief that the entire industry must move to a zero-cost licensing model. While I agree that the industry is adopting subscription licensing, I think you are missing a rather significant - huge - point that the flavor of license a product or service is available under is secondary to whether or not the product actually fits the needs of the customer. As I myself wrote back in February, it makes sense for Ellison to do this if only to get a valuation bump for calling “maintenance” revenue “subscription”, and because Oracle just can’t compete effectively against SAP as the market currently exists. If I did for Oracle what I do for SAP, this would absolutely be at the top of my list. [...] [...] Your recent post suggests that Ellison is positioning Oracle for the switch to a subscription revenue model as affirmation of your belief that the entire industry must move to a zero-cost licensing model. While I agree that the industry is adopting subscription licensing, I think you are missing a rather significant – huge – point that the flavor of license a product or service is available under is secondary to whether or not the product actually fits the needs of the customer. As I myself wrote back in February, it makes sense for Ellison to do this if only to get a valuation bump for calling “maintenance” revenue “subscription”, and because Oracle just can’t compete effectively against SAP as the market currently exists. If I did for Oracle what I do for SAP, this would absolutely be at the top of my list. [...]

]]> By: Venture Chronicles http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/02/14/fighting-yesterdays-war/comment-page-1/#comment-1314 Venture Chronicles Sun, 23 Apr 2006 14:27:58 +0000 http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/02/14/fighting-yesterdays-war/#comment-1314 [...] I’m literally walking out the door for a long weekend, but I do want to respond to Phil’s critique. In the meantime, allow me to remind you that I was well ahead of the curve in predicting that Oracle would go the subscription route in order to better compete with SAP. [...] [...] I’m literally walking out the door for a long weekend, but I do want to respond to Phil’s critique. In the meantime, allow me to remind you that I was well ahead of the curve in predicting that Oracle would go the subscription route in order to better compete with SAP. [...]

]]> By: babak http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/02/14/fighting-yesterdays-war/comment-page-1/#comment-777 babak Sun, 26 Mar 2006 13:39:05 +0000 http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/02/14/fighting-yesterdays-war/#comment-777 What are SAP's Weaknesses? What are SAP’s Weaknesses?

]]> By: Zoli Erdos http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/02/14/fighting-yesterdays-war/comment-page-1/#comment-370 Zoli Erdos Fri, 10 Mar 2006 04:16:30 +0000 http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/02/14/fighting-yesterdays-war/#comment-370 Jeff, this turn out to be an increadibly sharp prediction; with all the news / speculation today about Oracle abandoning the licence model within 3 years... Jeff, this turn out to be an increadibly sharp prediction; with all the news / speculation today about Oracle abandoning the licence model within 3 years…

]]> By: Zoli's Blog http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/02/14/fighting-yesterdays-war/comment-page-1/#comment-121 Zoli's Blog Sat, 18 Feb 2006 00:30:01 +0000 http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/02/14/fighting-yesterdays-war/#comment-121 <strong>Web 2.0 in the Enterprise - Blogging the TIE Event</strong> The Web 2.0 in the Enterprise panel discussion hosted by TIE was exciting.  In fact it wasn't really a panel discussion, rather a most interactive group event.   Jeff Clavier as moderator with Charlene Li, Ross Mayfield, Jeff Nolan as&... Web 2.0 in the Enterprise – Blogging the TIE Event

The Web 2.0 in the Enterprise panel discussion hosted by TIE was exciting.  In fact it wasn’t really a panel discussion, rather a most interactive group event.   Jeff Clavier as moderator with Charlene Li, Ross Mayfield, Jeff Nolan as&…

]]> By: Dennis Howlett http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/02/14/fighting-yesterdays-war/comment-page-1/#comment-74 Dennis Howlett Thu, 16 Feb 2006 03:21:16 +0000 http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/02/14/fighting-yesterdays-war/#comment-74 But if he's also saying we;ll toss in the DB as well, then I hope his cash flow can take the pain. Along with the ire of the many DBAs who make a living off Oracle. But if he’s also saying we;ll toss in the DB as well, then I hope his cash flow can take the pain. Along with the ire of the many DBAs who make a living off Oracle.

]]> By: Dennis Howlett http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/02/14/fighting-yesterdays-war/comment-page-1/#comment-72 Dennis Howlett Thu, 16 Feb 2006 01:52:20 +0000 http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/02/14/fighting-yesterdays-war/#comment-72 errr...is this sooo new? How many deals has Larry been parachuted into saying something along the lines of: "Tell you what fellas, I'll discount the apps 100% provided you take the database" to the board and been shown the door. I can think of a few. errr…is this sooo new? How many deals has Larry been parachuted into saying something along the lines of: “Tell you what fellas, I’ll discount the apps 100% provided you take the database” to the board and been shown the door. I can think of a few.

]]> By: vinnie mirchandani http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/02/14/fighting-yesterdays-war/comment-page-1/#comment-67 vinnie mirchandani Wed, 15 Feb 2006 17:35:39 +0000 http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/02/14/fighting-yesterdays-war/#comment-67 see my view on Dual Licensing thinking Sleepycat buys them and how potential scorched earth result may be what SAP should fear http://dealarchitect.typepad.com/deal_architect/2006/02/will_combined_c.html see my view on Dual Licensing thinking Sleepycat buys them and how potential scorched earth result may be what SAP should fear

http://dealarchitect.typepad.com/dealarchitect/2006/02/willcombined_c.html

]]> By: Rob http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/02/14/fighting-yesterdays-war/comment-page-1/#comment-66 Rob Wed, 15 Feb 2006 14:55:14 +0000 http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/02/14/fighting-yesterdays-war/#comment-66 I think you hit it on the head that Oracle is looking at game changers. To this end, Oracle has also bought itself a lot of option value. One view of strategy is that you control your destiny. The other view is that you can only "nudge" your destiny a little because it's mainly controlled by market and historical forces. If you subscribe to the latter view, it's impossible to accurately say what the enterprise software market will evolve to. Although it is paying a high price, Oracle is essentially purchasing a bunch of future options around SAAS, Open Source, SOA, Database, VOIP, etc. I think you hit it on the head that Oracle is looking at game changers. To this end, Oracle has also bought itself a lot of option value.

One view of strategy is that you control your destiny. The other view is that you can only “nudge” your destiny a little because it’s mainly controlled by market and historical forces. If you subscribe to the latter view, it’s impossible to accurately say what the enterprise software market will evolve to. Although it is paying a high price, Oracle is essentially purchasing a bunch of future options around SAAS, Open Source, SOA, Database, VOIP, etc.

]]> By: Scott http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/02/14/fighting-yesterdays-war/comment-page-1/#comment-65 Scott Wed, 15 Feb 2006 13:15:20 +0000 http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/02/14/fighting-yesterdays-war/#comment-65 Following on from Oracle delivering a LAMP with an "O", I wish we would see SAP take this approach with NetWeaver, even if we just focused on the Application Server to begin. There is such great abstraction, performance, scalability and big-enterprise-level availability and adminstration in SAP technology. And yet when I think about the web applications that I want to develop, I am forced to look at platforms like LAMP or Rails, because it is not feasible (to the best of my knowledge) to use SAP technology outside of the typical domain of SAP AG. Cheers, Scott Following on from Oracle delivering a LAMP with an “O”, I wish we would see SAP take this approach with NetWeaver, even if we just focused on the Application Server to begin.

There is such great abstraction, performance, scalability and big-enterprise-level availability and adminstration in SAP technology. And yet when I think about the web applications that I want to develop, I am forced to look at platforms like LAMP or Rails, because it is not feasible (to the best of my knowledge) to use SAP technology outside of the typical domain of SAP AG.

Cheers,
Scott

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