Oracle aims to address criticism from users over the complex nature
of its licensing pricing with publication of a new guide next
month.
The company claims the "Software Investment Guide" aims to address
90% of the questions users ask Oracle about its licensing
policies.
Having reviewed a draft of the document, Oracle Applications Users
Group (OAUG) president Tom Wyatt said: "I felt that it was a
document that brought a lot of information from different sources
into one particular area."
The document would be a great resource for users to understand the
terminology of software pricing and how that applies to an
organisation's structure, he added.
Gartner research director Jane Disbrow said: "Oracle is trying to
make it more convenient to try and understand its pricing and
licensing," she said. "The guide helps, but it is not the perfect
solution. This is a high-level overview and does not cover the
level of detail so somebody could take it and price out a product."
Jacqueline Woods, Oracle's vice-president of Global Pricing and
Licensing Strategy, said: "There was a sentiment that people could
not find the information, or did not know where it was or thought
it was hard to get to. Now it is all in one place and organised in
a fashion that is easy to go through."
The Oracle Software Investment Guide was first announced at
Oracle's European OracleWorld conference in June. It is scheduled
to be available for downloading on Oracle.com next week.