Our very own Eliot Arlo Colon, President of Miro Consulting, was interviewed last week by Linda Tucci of SearchCIO on Oracle licensing issues.  On the interview, Eliot talked about how to get the most out of your next Oracle licensing contract.  The interview is available online via podcast.

Listen to Eliot’s interview… http://media.techtarget.com/audioCast/CIO/mirotuccifinal.mp3  If you want to hear more about what Miro has to say about software licensing, Eliot and I will be doing a live webinar on June 25 starting at 1 p.m. EST (10 a.m. PST).  To register, go to https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/755300775.

Though Named User Oracle licensing isn’t available to new contracts anymore, companies still maintain and renew their Named User Oracle license agreements.

Named User Plus Licensing….means you pay per named user, NOT concurrent user. Named User licensing limited the number of authorized Oracle individuals on a specified computer.

Oracle licensing models for Named User Plus require you to adhere to the following Oracle user minimums:

· Oracle Database SE ONE: 5 Named User Plus licenses

· Oracle Database SE: 5 Named User Plus licenses

· Oracle Database Enterprise Edition: 25 Named User Plus licenses per CPU

· Oracle Application Server SE ONE: 5 Named User Plus licenses

· All other Oracle Application Server products: 10 Named User Plus licenses per CPU

In the News This Week

The BSA, together with IDC, put out their annual piracy survey this week concluding that some software piracy has fallen across the globe but the worldwide rate has risen three points to 38%.   According to John Gantz at IDC “By the end of 2007, there were more than 1 billion PCs installed around the world, and close to half had pirated, unlicensed software on them.”

Losses jumped from $8 billion to $48 billion for software companies – the BSA is determined to decrease non-compliance of software licensing to deliver billions in economic growth in the software sector. What does this mean for you? Make sure your software licenses are in compliance, stay on top of them and be ready for the possibility of an audit at any time – proper software asset management is the key.

You can find the complete press release at the source with interesting stats on software piracy around the globe.

Microsoft is having a hard time with complaints across the board about its software licensing and interoperability practices – most recently with a complaint forwarded to the EC from a UK education group called Becta. The EC has been engaged since January in investigating interoperability issues surrounding Microsoft’s Office Open XML (OOXML) document formats for Office 2007. The majority of complaints filed is about the software licensing agreements (SLAs).

Becta is recommending that the UK educational community not use Office 2007, recommending that users save files in the older formats until Microsoft is ODF compliant. Microsoft has stated that they are working with Becta to resolve the issues raised in the complaint. The Internet IT Blog has some additional reporting on the BECTA Suit.

The company is already facing antitrust issues with the EU, with a $1.3 billion fine.

There has never been a discussion of retirement of a successor named to Larry Ellison, but blogger Tom Foremski is predicting that at the very least it would be a former Oracle employee and he points specifically to Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of Salesforce.com – he also predicts that Oracle would then acquire Salesforce.com.

Benioff spent 13 years with Oracle prior to founding Salesforce.com and the rumor mill can’t get enough on the topic of Ellison’s retirement, although sources inside the company claim it isn’t something that they can even bring up or plan for. Ellison leaves some big shoes to fill, should he choose to leave anytime soon. Both Benioff and Ellison have enjoyed continued success and -only time will tell what the shakeout will be if/when Ellison steps down.

According to Oracle licensing rules, multi-core processors are to be counted as a single CPU in Standard Edition products. However for the Enterprise edition, the Oracle licensing rule is different…each core will be counted as a separately, but with pricing discounts.

Recently, on a Pythian Group blog, Mark Brinsmead smartly pointed out that recent changes to Oracles licensing rules for the Standard Edition may result in higher pricing. He rightly pointed out that “When licensing Oracle programs with Standard Edition One or Standard Edition in the product name, a processor is counted equivalent to a socket; however, in the case of multi-chip modules, each chip in the multi-chip module is counted as one occupied socket.” New definitions have been added in Oracle’s software licensing agreements. Oracle licensing can be confusing and very complex. Matching up intellectual property – which essentially is written in legal language – to real-world IT and business needs can really make your head spin.

It’s no secret that the Oracle sales process is geared toward the end of the quarter – leaving sales rep less capable to offer aggressive discounts. If you are planning on making a large software purchase – don’t wait until the end of anything – month, quarter or year. Sales reps are pushing to close the big deals at the end of their cycle and will likely push your own contract to the back burner with bigger fish to fry.   Remember….all sales are local.

Oracle’s aggressive sales processes have made the company who they are today – in order to take advantage of getting attention paid to you, your Oracle licensing and the optimal discounts act quickly, be the first in line and don’t wait!

With all of the other variables flying in the air – earnings, acquisitions – why chance anything else? Get help. Hire a professional to do your negotiating.

As someone who has had to dig for information on Oracle’s website, I’m grateful to Eddie Awad’s really useful list of 35+ subdomains that have come in handy. 

35+ Oracle Subdomains You May Not Know About

Now that Oracle’s very own Larry Ellison is Forbes’ #1 top-paid CEOs in technology companies for 2007, there are a flurry of comments on whether he deserves it.  It all started with Shayna Garlick’s Does Ellison Deserve to be No.1?  Old Larry even knocked his best friend – Steve Jobs – down for the position.

Maybe it’s all those Oracle licensing fees.  Just kidding, Larry.

So, does he deserve to be Numero Uno?   Tell us what you think.