As the Oracle Applications User Group (OAUG) kicks off its bi-annual meeting in Dallas this week, an Oracle exec is quoted as " (Oracle) finds tremendous value in their independence".
Not sure this exec would have said the same thing in 2002 – when Oracle probably thought OAUG was too independent. In the 2000 to 2003 time frame OAUG highlighted for the user base, as an example, the 100,000 bugs (that’s not a typo) a point release of apps version 11i had. In the meantime, Oracle kept wanting to de-support the previous stable release 10.7 and OAUG kept pushing back. Relations were poor enough that an OAUG rep sent a letter to Computerworld which ended with “One wonders how long a vendor can stay in business when it so blatantly ignores the voices of its users”
The relations are much better now – but the challenge of identifying and prioritizing which features from Oracle, PeopleSoft and JDE get in to Fusion, ensuring appropriate migration paths for all will test the group even more going forward. They have a chance to represent a strong voice for the much wider, diverse user base . Too many user groups, like company boards, are "rubber stamps" for management.
