New Oracle Help Center Unveiled

Of course most of you have already noticed the new Oracle Help Center which is now the landing page for any documentation link (for example from OTN).

With a new look and feel (Alta UI) and enhanced search, it is now much easier to locate the document or topic you're looking for.

Here is a video that demonstrates the Oracle Help Center.

have a nice day

@lex

Oracle OpenWorld 2014

'tis the season again to turn our heads (or travel) to San Francisco where Oracle hosts its major event, Oracle OpenWorld, from Sunday, 28th September to Thursday, 2nd October 2014.

As usual, Siebel Essentials will try to digest the firehose of information and put into reasonably sized articles. This year, our friends and fellow bloggers Bruce and Richard are on the premises, so watch the On Demand Education blog for some Siebel related information too.

Maybe it's not just Siebel that attracts the crowd...

As a special service, we added a Twitter stream to our sidebar, so you can follow the event as it happens. If you tweet from the event, please use the #oow14 hashtag.

If you cannot make it to OOW this year, ensure you have bookmarked the live 'On Demand' video channel where you can see and replay the major events and keynotes.

have a nice OOW

@lex

Larry Ellison Appointed Executive Chairman and CTO of Oracle

Yesterday, Oracle announced that its board of directors has elected Larry Ellison - formerly CEO - to the position of Executive Chairman of Oracle's Board and appointed him the company's Chief Technology Officer. Oracle also announced that the function of CEO will be held by two senior executives.

Safra Catz will serve as CEO for manufacturing, finance, and legal functions while Mark Hurd will continue to oversee the sales, service and vertical industry global business units.

Read the full press release here

International news sites are abuzz with the story and focus on Mr. Ellison's 37-year long leadership from which he now steps down.

Larry Ellison, who turned 70 this year, announced: �Safra and Mark will now report to the Oracle Board rather than to me. All the other reporting relationships will remain unchanged. The three of us have been working well together for the last several years, and we plan to continue working together for the foreseeable future. Keeping this management team in place has always been a top priority of mine.�

have a nice day

@lex

Oracle Addresses Competitor FUD

When talking to customers and partners in the Oracle Siebel CRM realm, a lot of discussions soon reach the point of having to address some fears, uncertainties and doubts (FUD) about Oracle's direction and support for the CRM system we all know and love.

Recently, Oracle has added some interesting public documents to their official Oracle.com Siebel Page in addition to webcasts and videos.

The Siebel Friends and Family letter is a very personal address to the Siebel community and lists the major assertions from Oracle's competitors and the rebuttal.

Click image to enlarge. Click here to read the full letter.

I will not reiterate or comment on individual positions of the letter but the overall feeling is that Oracle will keep investing in Siebel.

But Oracle has opened more channels to communicate their commitment to Siebel.

• On oracle.com, a FAQ document has been made available that addresses the same concerns as the family letter.
• The FAQ lists some recorded webcasts that will help customers, partners and Oracle employees understand the investments that Oracle is making.
• There is a new Siebel CX YouTube channel where we can already find some interesting videos on Oracle's directions for Siebel CRM and CX.
• Last but not least, Siebel Customer Success Stories give great insight into successful projects.

have a nice day

@lex

Turtle Shell, Bones and Scripts

On a quite regular basis I come across discussions or articles about the Chinese translation of "Oracle" (i.e. the company I work for).

The Chinese Oracle logo some years ago.
(Image source: sysdba blog)

A Chinese student once translated the characters ??? to me as "Turtle Shell", "Bone" and "Script". At first this is slightly odd to the Western mind but when you do a bit more research you find articles and translations which simply refer to this phrase as "Oracle" (in the sense of the ancient foreseers).

In addition, the sages of the internet explain that in ancient China, records of divination and deeds were carved in tortoise shells or other animal bones as a means of storing information, hence the other translation "Oracle Bones". There you have it: This is an ancient form of database.

So the Chinese Oracle logo does not only mean "Oracle" per se but also refers to Oracle's flagship product, the database.

have a nice day

@lex

Turtle Shell, Bones and Scripts

On a quite regular basis I come across discussions or articles about the Chinese translation of "Oracle" (i.e. the company I work for).

The Chinese Oracle logo some years ago.
(Image source: sysdba blog)

A Chinese student once translated the characters 甲骨文 to me as "Turtle Shell", "Bone" and "Script". At first this is slightly odd to the Western mind but when you do a bit more research you find articles and translations which simply refer to this phrase as "Oracle" (in the sense of the ancient foreseers).

In addition, the sages of the internet explain that in ancient China, records of divination and deeds were carved in tortoise shells or other animal bones as a means of storing information, hence the other translation "Oracle Bones". There you have it: This is an ancient form of database.

So the Chinese Oracle logo does not only mean "Oracle" per se but also refers to Oracle's flagship product, the database.

have a nice day

@lex

Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) no longer certified with My Oracle Support and Cloud Support Portal after April 4, 2014

 Oracle stops supporting IE7

"On April 4, 2014, Oracle Support will remove Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) from the My Oracle Support and Cloud Support portal certified browser list. It is important that you make the transition to a more current version of Internet Explorer prior to April 4, 2014.

We recommend that you review the �Supported Browsers� link for a list of My Oracle Support and Cloud Support portal certified browsers. When upgrading your browser, it is important to note that Internet Explorer 11 (IE11) is not yet certified with My Oracle Support and Cloud Support Portal. Newer versions of supported browsers are usually certified within six months from their release date.

If you have any questions or feedback, please log into My Oracle Support and use the "Contact Us" link located in the upper right hand corner."

Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) no longer certified with My Oracle Support and Cloud Support Portal after April 4, 2014

 Oracle stops supporting IE7

"On April 4, 2014, Oracle Support will remove Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) from the My Oracle Support and Cloud Support portal certified browser list. It is important that you make the transition to a more current version of Internet Explorer prior to April 4, 2014.

We recommend that you review the “Supported Browsers” link for a list of My Oracle Support and Cloud Support portal certified browsers. When upgrading your browser, it is important to note that Internet Explorer 11 (IE11) is not yet certified with My Oracle Support and Cloud Support Portal. Newer versions of supported browsers are usually certified within six months from their release date.

If you have any questions or feedback, please log into My Oracle Support and use the "Contact Us" link located in the upper right hand corner."