Oracle needs some cloud computing mojo

Oracle’s cloud computing stance has, um, evolved, to say the least, over the past few years. As the company preps for its annualOracle OpenWorld mega-show in San Francisco next week, a question lingers: Is Oracle software and/or hardware cloudworthy?

Expect a lot of cloud talk out of the conference and more on hardware-software bundles a la the company’s Exadata, Exalogic and new database appliance. But Oracle still has a lot to prove on the cloud front.

Oracle’s cloud problem goes back at least two years, when Oracle CEO Larry Ellison famously mocked cloud computing hype at a Churchill Club event. “What do you think Google runs on? Water vapor?” he asked. “How about databases, and operating systems, and microprocessors and the Internet?”

As colleague Derrick Harris wrote for GigaOM Pro at the time, Ellison showed a lack of understanding of true cloud benefits:

Cloud computing is about far more than simply serving applications via the network. It is, at the least, about pay-per-use billing, process automation, on-demand provisioning of additional resources and increasing efficiency through multi-tenant architectures. Many believe cloud computing is about openness. If it does not increase flexibility and efficiency while decreasing extraneous costs, it is not cloud computing.

Read more

Oracle Takes on Microsoft, Google with Cloud Office

Oracle (ORCL) on Wednesday announced the availability of Cloud Office 1.0, a Web-based productivity suite that is set to give online applications from Microsoft (MSFT) and Google (GOOG) a fresh dose of competition.

Cloud Office is integrated with the on-premises Oracle Open Office, of which version 3.3 was also announced Wednesday.

Like Open Office, Cloud Office is based on ODF (Open Document Format). It provides a set of spreadsheet, text and presentation applications and is compatible with Microsoft Office, according to Oracle.

Customers can use Cloud Office to collaborate on documents over the Web as well as access them on mobile devices, Oracle said. Information on supported mobile devices wasn't immediately available.

Cloud Office stands ready for "enterprise and carrier-grade deployment" thanks to its "Web-scale" SaaS (software as a service) architecture, but is available in on-premises form as well, Oracle said.

It will be sold to business users as Cloud Office Professional Edition. Telcos and ISPs can offer their customers Cloud Office in Home, Standard and Professional Editions, according to an Oracle presentation.

A perpetual license for Professional Edition costs US$90, plus 22 percent annual maintenance fees. Cloud Office Standard Edition will cost $40 per user when sold through a telco or ISP, with support acquired through the provider. Home Edition is not currently available, according to an Oracle spokeswoman.

Cloud Office is also available via subscription at $40 per user per year for Professional Edition and $20 per user per year for Standard Edition, the spokeswoman said.

Cloud Office's cost could be key to its success against incumbent offerings like Google Apps for Business, which costs US$50 per user per year.

Meanwhile, new features in Open Office 3.3 include plug-ins for Oracle's BI (business intelligence), E-Business Suite ERP (enterprise resource planning) software, and Microsoft SharePoint.

While Oracle has a long way to go in catching up to competing office suites, it is hoping to close the gap by positioning its products as more flexible and open alternatives.

Open Office 3.3 Standard Edition costs US$49.95 per user and is meant for companies with one to 99 employees. The Enterprise Edition, which includes many more tools, connectors and supported platforms, costs $90 per user with a minimum of 100 users, although volume pricing is available.

But interoperability with Office comes at an additional price. Earlier this year, Oracle imposed a $90 per user fee on an ODF plug-in that enables the sharing of files between Open Office and Microsoft Office. The plug-in had been available at no charge under Sun's ownership.

Still, Oracle maintains customers can reduce their office productivity license costs by up to a factor of five by using Open Office.

Oracle has faced scrutiny this year from backers of OpenOffice.org, the open-source version of Open Office, with some fearing the company would stop supporting the effort.

A number of OpenOffice.org developers recently formed an offshoot project, LibreOffice. Oracle later publicly reaffirmed its commitment to OpenOffice.org.

Oracle gave no indications in Wednesday's announcement that Cloud Office will also be released as open source.

http://www.cio.com/article/646913/Oracle_Takes_on_Microsoft_Google_with_Cloud_Office?source=rss_cloud_computing

Join Us: http://bit.ly/joincloud

Oracle butts into online collaboration space with Cloud Office

Move over Google and Microsoft: Oracle wants to get in on the cloud productivity scene too. The company has announced Oracle Cloud Office, which will allow users to create and edit documents collaboratively in the browser without having to rely on desktop software.

The 1.0 version of Oracle Cloud Office "enables web 2.0-style collaboration," says Oracle, and can be viewed (but apparently not edited) on smartphones and other mobile devices. The online service is compatible with both Open Office documents as well as Microsoft's Office format, though it's built around the open ODF format. Unlike services like Google Docs, though, it doesn't look like Cloud Office will be free to consumers—it's being offered to businesses and other service providers (like ISPs) as a way to create online presentations, spreadsheets, and other documents on the Web.

Speaking of Open Office, the company also announced Open Office 3.3, which has built-in integration with Cloud Office. The updated suite is largely geared towards enterprise users, with ways to connect to Oracle Business Intelligence, Oracle E-Business Suite, and Microsoft Sharepoint.

Although there are already a couple major players in the cloud productivity space, offering such a service for Open Office users is a good idea for Oracle. The company already tries to lure away Microsoft customers through the desktop version of its software, and adding collaboration tools will help Oracle keep those customers.

Join Us: http://bit.ly/joincloud