How is the relationship between Oracle and its customers who want to leave Oracle?

Founded in 1977, Oracle Corporation became the world's largest database management company in just 10 years, with a turnover of $100 million in 1987 and over 4,500 users worldwide. Its leadership in database and cloud infrastructure provision has never been challenged, as in 2021, the Gartner Magic Quadrant (a reference for analyzing technology companies) named it a leader for the 6th consecutive year. However... the rise of new technologies like the cloud is questioning the contract and remuneration models of publishers, deemed archaic, unsuitable, or even abusive. The strategic choices made under shareholder pressure to maintain their position and revenues do not necessarily go in the direction of a claimed publisher-client partnership, as the installed base can no longer continue to grow.

The cause of discontent

Faced with this situation, discontent is organizing, led by organizations such as Cigref (an association of the 150 largest French companies and public administrations) and its European counterpart, EuroCIO. These associations note a continuous deterioration in relations between Oracle and user companies in France and across Europe. The highlight of this mistrust came from the lack of response to a letter co-signed by Cigref and EuroCIO to obtain agreements between Oracle and VMware on virtualization. Since then, the dissatisfaction of the community has only grown, while the quality of the relationship between publisher and user is essential, given the challenges of competitiveness, agility, and performance.

Main reasons for user dissatisfaction

Among the practices denounced by users is the "ratchet effect," which involves publishers ensuring increasing revenues through continuous adaptation of metrics, planned obsolescence of licenses (support discontinuation, upward compatibility issues), tied selling... Another criticized practice is the abusive use of license audits to check the compliance of license usage with contracts, aiming to penalize license decommissioning and the use of third-party maintenance. Billing for so-called indirect access is also part of the publishers' arsenal to generate revenue. Oracle has tightened the screw in businesses by including Java licenses in its license audits, allowing it to charge fees for what was once a free Java SE.

What users are saying

The EuroCIO study conducted in 2016 with the CIOs of a hundred major European companies illustrates user discontent. It reveals that:

• For 80% of them, Oracle's contract models are too rigid and unsuited to the market's flexibility needs and new usages.
• For 75% of them, the license model is also too rigid.
• 60% say they prefer having an alternative solution.
• And 50% are working on an exit scenario.

The decline in cloud adoption and the increase in exit strategies were highlighted in a new EuroCIO survey in 2018.

Second-hand licenses, a sustainable alternative to escape publishers' diktat

Migrating from an Oracle IS to an open-source alternative solution is possible. The French Civil Aviation Authority (DGAC) did it, but it is a colossal project. There is another equally effective solution to fight against planned obsolescence and the publisher's abusive practices on cloud technologies: second-hand on-premises licenses. By conducting an accurate audit of your Oracle licenses and your users' functional needs, you can optimize your software and hardware inventory by integrating perfectly compliant second-hand Oracle on-premises licenses.

By joining the Softcorner marketplace, the leader in the European second-hand license market, you can buy second-hand licenses cheaper and sell your decommissioned Oracle licenses on the secondary market.