Oracle Linux: aggressive

[JC Cheloven]

Hi all,
I just noticed the existence of oracle linux (http://www.oracle.com/us/technologies/linux/index.html). Quite some things caught my attention, mainly the aggressive style. Traditional players in the gnu-linux scene, as Novell or RedHat, are directly attacked. I think this kind of advertisement is forbidden in my country (at least once was). Some links:

RedHat mentioned a hundred of times per page here (http://www.oracle.com/us/technologies/linux/competitive-335546.html).

Explicit mention to Suse here (http://www.oracle.com/us/technologies/linux/index.html). Seems that Dell migrated (http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/articles/servers-storage-admin/dell-linux-1498654.html) from Suse to Oracle linux.

Apparently, Oracle makes a lot of contributions to linux, including leadership (http://www.oracle.com/us/technologies/linux/026042.htm) (modesty?, why?). Does anyone remember the great contribution of donating OOo to Apache?

Well, sorry for the sarcasm. I simply don't like the style of these guys. If anyone has anything to contribute/clarify/say, please share.

[KiwiNZ]

It's called competition.I see nothing wrong with what they are doing.

[JDShu]

They certainly have an interesting CEO ;)

One thing I've consistently heard about Oracle, is that their software is horrible, but their marketing and sales departments are absolutely amazing. The lesson learned, is that contrary to what you may wish to believe, most of the time, sales is what makes a company run, not so much how good the product is. It makes sense if you think about it. As a side anecdote, I know somebody who interviewed at Oracle to be a consultant, and part of the process was to give a presentation about why oracle is better than mysql.

[Chronon]

It's called competition.I see nothing wrong with what they are doing.

I completely agree.

[Porcini M.]

They are funding btrfs - that's a good thing.

[kurt18947]

They certainly have an interesting CEO ;)

One thing I've consistently heard about Oracle, is that their software is horrible, but their marketing and sales departments are absolutely amazing.

The lesson learned, is that contrary to what you may wish to believe, most of the time, sales is what makes a company run, not so much how good the product is.
<snip>


The above description could be said to fit to a Tee another huge software company.

[JDShu]

The above description could be said to fit to a Tee another huge software company.

Not quite. Oracle is famous for this.

[mörgæs]

In English I believe it translates to 'commercials built on comparison' (sorry for not being a native speaker), and it is indeed banned in large parts of the world.

[TeamRocket1233c]

They certainly have an interesting CEO ;)

One thing I've consistently heard about Oracle, is that their software is horrible, but their marketing and sales departments are absolutely amazing. The lesson learned, is that contrary to what you may wish to believe, most of the time, sales is what makes a company run, not so much how good the product is. It makes sense if you think about it. As a side anecdote, I know somebody who interviewed at Oracle to be a consultant, and part of the process was to give a presentation about why oracle is better than mysql.

If their software is horrible, how do you account for Solaris, which I heard is supposed to be among the most secure OSes out there?

[aeiah]

If their software is horrible, how do you account for Solaris, which I heard is supposed to be among the most secure OSes out there?

it was recently acquired (solaris was by sun microsystems)

[aeiah]

This amused me:


Oracle Linux is fully compatible—both source and binary—with Red Hat Enterprise Linux

from http://www.oracle.com/us/technologies/linux/025994.htm

oracle linux is basically CentOS with support from oracle. its really what open source is all about, although oracle leaves a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths. criticisms about them not giving back to linux or redhat are probably similar to debian's feelings about canonical.

[JC Cheloven]

It is interesting to see how people from different places around the world have a different perception about some ethical issues.

In this case, it's likely due to different habits, which in turn are due to different laws regarding the regulation of the so called 'free market' (Kiwinz, Chronon) in our respective countries.

Just to clarify (not an intent to convince anyone), the main issue with this kind of advertisement is, IMO, that the 'other company' is defenseless, as it is mentioned but not given the opportunity to present its arguments (making his own counter-advertisement does not solve the issue, only gets things worse). And this is, again imo, why it is forbiden in some countries.

Thanks everyone

[Muddypaws]

Nothing wrong at all with what they are doing. Pepsi v Cola have had the taste test for years. Its just comparison marketing. But man do Oracle come across as jerks. ^^