Oracle users petition for 10.7 extension

Emboldened by successfully persuading Oracle to continue its support for Version 10.7 of its applications suite until the end of next year, members of a user group are now asking for more time before upgrading.

A group of 50 corporate users have sent a petition to Oracle asking the software company to support 10.7 through 2004.

An Oracle spokesperson said the company had not had time yet to look at the proposal and would reply to the customers at a later date.

It was only last month that users of 10.7 learned that Oracle had agreed to put back the "de-support" date from 31 June next year to 31 December.

The Oracle Applications User Group (OAUG) is taking credit for that extension.

"Over the past few months, OAUG has been working diligently to determine its members' requirements for such an extension.

"We conducted surveys, facilitated discussions on OAUGnet, and spoke with members at OAUG conferences, all in an effort to find out more about member upgrade plans," said a statement on the group's website.

The users want to ensure they get value for money out of 10.7.

Many companies upgraded to the software because it was the first offering from the vendor that was Y2K compliant. Now they want to get at least four to five years of use before going through the pain of an upgrade.