Tuesday, August 28, 2012

OOW 2012 - Crystal Ball

I wonder what tomorrow has in mind for me
Or am I even in it's mind at all
Perhaps I'll get a chance to look ahead and see
Soon as I find myself a crystal ball
                       -- From Styx's Crystal Ball, Written by Tommy Shaw


Been asked a bunch lately about what new announcements & news I expect to hear from Oracle at Oracle OpenWorld next month.  It's fun to prognosticate, even though I'm really, really bad at it.  So, in the spirit of fun:

1.  E-Business Suite:  we'll see a pre-release demo and announcement.  Emphasized points will be WebLogic and hot patching. My guess is we'll see GA in early 2013.

2.  Fusion Applications:  3 announcements/demos:
  • We'll hear about a major release (likely won't call it 2.0, but that's essentially what it is) with a significant expansion in functionality.  Project Portfolio Management functional reach will be greatly expanded.  Again, a pre-announcement.  GA?  Around Dec. 2012.
  • The entire Fusion Applications Suite on SaaS.  The pricing scheme?  Not likely.  But at least GA for Fusion Apps on SaaS.
  • An offering centered around important or core Fusion Applications business processes on SaaS.  Probably rebranded, trimmed-down, and aimed at SME subscribers.
3.  A new version of the database.  I base this on nothing other than rumors and the perception that the 11g database, in light of Oracle's product release history, is due for a refresh.

4.  Exasomethingorother:  Do you really think we'll get through OOW without another hardware announcement of some sort?

5.  Smurfvitdatasoc.com acquisition:  At least one announcement of a company nobody has ever heard of who possesses technology that, when integrated into the Oracle product family, will forever change the way we do things.

So, now you have my predictions...including my humorous potshots on hardware and acquisitions.  Keep in mind that my track record for predicting release dates is atrocious.  So, anybody have any thoughts or anything to add?  Hit the comments.

UPDATE (8/29/12):   Silly me, I forgot to mention that we'll hear some cloud-related announcements other than SaaS for Fusion Apps [insert forehead slap here].  We'll hear tons about social and the cloud.  In fact, I suspect OOW will be a real cloudapalooza.

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