Support issues threaten Oracle conference

The issue of support for Oracle's 10.7 version of its business applications is set to dominate the agenda at its AppsWorld user conference in San Diego this coming week.

Oracle is refusing to bow to increased pressure to extend for a third time the 30 June support deadline for 10.7 applications.

Many users have delayed upgrading to 11i following reports that the process is complex and that there are problems with the new software.

Originally set for the end of June, and already extended by a year, the deadline issue is scheduled to take up an entire afternoon of the conference, plus 12 break-out sessions, some lasting two hours.

Yet an Oracle spokesman denied that 10.7 would be "a major focus", and said that the sessions would concentrate on providing examples of best practice.

User groups have been putting pressure on the vendor to extend support through 2004. Both the Oracle UK and application user groups want a continuation of support for known bugs.

The company spokesman told vnunet.com that "there will be no further extensions to the de-support deadline for 10.7", but later added that the firm was "still considering the requests".

Of the vendor's 13,000 application customers, 2,600 are still currently using 10.7, although Oracle insists that half of these are currently upgrading their systems, and many more are planning to.

The software giant's intransigence may be triggered more by its concern for its bottom line than for its customer service, analysts have suggested.

"Is it a coincidence that the deadline falls in their financial fourth quarter? It seems a fortuitous one," said Philip Carnelley, research director at market watcher Ovum.

But Oracle has refuted this idea. "Oracle does not charge new licence fees for the upgrade if the customer's support contract is current," said the spokesman.

The vendor insists that the decision to cease supporting 10.7 was based on the falling number of calls being made to its helpdesks, and pointed out that it had supported 10.7 for seven years, longer than support periods offered by rivals.

The June 2003 cut-off point is fair and reasonable, argued Oracle, despite user concerns over the upgrading process to run 11i.

Analyst firm AMR Research has found that, on average, companies spent 43 per cent more than expected and took 39 per cent longer than anticipated to upgrade to 11i.

Oracle's chief executive, Larry Ellison, will once again deliver his conference keynote speech via satellite. He is currently in New Zealand, where his yachting team is busy losing in the final of the America's Cup challenge series.