Were Fusion Apps Even in the Oracle Open World Keynote?

This is a blog of two parts. The first part is about the long expected launch of Fusion Applications and then next the content at OOW for Fusion Apps.

Let me say it and be done with it, I was really hacked off by Larry’s keynotes, which you can hear for yourself here. A large percentage of Oracle’s sales come from Applications and we have not been a headline for years at OOW. Last year was Exadata II and the year before The Database Machine. So this year with the launch of Fusion Apps I was really excited. I knew there would be the Sun Hardware and I even expected the Cloud after all it is the current buzz word. As I am typing this now I am following tweets on the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference keynote and it is also all about the cloud. Larry even had two keynotes and I patiently listened through the first on Sunday night but it overran and I had to go off with the ACE Program for an evening event on a boat in the bay. I was gutted I was going to miss the big announcement, but it was soon obvious Larry just introduced a taster demo and said their day would come Wednesday. He did however say one thing I liked, when he explained the time taken in development was down to adding features to the technology.

I sat through the Infosys Keynote Wednesday so I could have my seat centre stage 3 rows back, and I have to say it was better than last year and actually started really well.

Larry - Front Row Right watches his own video

Then Larry came on stage to the America’s Cup video footage which I enjoyed. Larry has worked hard for this achievement and deserves the opportunity to talk about it.

As he started his main speech he said how over 50% would be dedicated to Fusion Apps, great start; but first he would recap on the others. It was as if Sunday had only been a dress rehearsal, he said exactly the same things.  Then he started his rant about SalesForce and I love these corporate spats, the banter is often quite amusing, but did it have to go on so long? A short diversion from the story but after the keynote I attended the Bloggers Meetup which was in the same venue as the SalesForce party and they had to sit /stand through another presentation!

At the scheduled finish time, Larry was still ranting away at SalesForce and people were beginning to leave the hall in droves. If I wasn’t waiting for the Fusion launch I would have too. Even I was dreading > 50% again! As Larry handed over to the Fusion Demo Team with the scantiest of introductions, he and Mark Hurd left! I tweeted and won ‘Tweet of the Day’ for ‘Audience leaves in Hurds’, but I wasn’t joking - it was a mass exodus.

I would have hated to been giving the demo, but Steve Miranda and his team ploughed on. I suspect they should have been followed by a big blaze from Larry, but he had long gone.

I won’t tell you how I described it to friends, I don’t mind being outspoken but there is a public limit I won’t cross. Let’s just say I was gutted, even angrier and intensely frustrated.

But my main emotion was disappointment for the development team, six years in the making and no moment of glory.