Oracle related rants (and lots of off-topic stuff)…
Update: I had to change the time slot… 🙂
I’ve signed up to do an Unconference session on Wednesday 10:00 in Overlook C. The session is called, “Virtualization: What is it and why should you care?”
It will be about 30 minutes presentation, then a discussion. It’s an overview session and not product-specific. Hopefully it will generate some interest. 🙂
Cheers
Tim…
I’ve found out what the big announcement at Oracle OpenWorld is. They’ve built in support for the Wiimote!
Keep it under your hat…
Tim…
Today was the Oracle ACE Directors meeting from 10:00-16:00.
Database:
As far as the database was concerned, I was hoping we would get a sneak preview of the much hailed “Big Announcement” planned for Larry Ellison’s keynote speech on Wednesday. Unfortunately all attempts to draw something out of Mark Townsend resulted in phrases like, “Wait until Wednesday!”
This is certainly increasing the intensity of speculation. I just hope it lives up to the hype. At least it’s hype about the database I suppose. 🙂
There wasn’t much on a technical level I’ve not already covered as part of my 11g OCP notes, but there were a few things that helped me understand the bigger picture of what Oracle 11g is trying to achieve. It just puts things into context a bit, rather than thinking of things as individual features.
Other snippets include:
Middleware and Apps
As far as the middleware and applications were concerned, I’ve come away feeling more confused than when I went in. The recent aquisitions mean there are a whole bunch of overlapping products and it is not always clear which you should pick. All products will eventually have a smooth transition to 11g Fusion Middleware, but that is some way off. Currently, it feels safer to keep your head in the sand and wait for 11g Fusion Middleware. That said, I think what they will end up with will be a killer app server… probably…
I’m feeling relatively in the swing of the SF timezone, which is a big improvement from last year. So it’s out to meet the bloggers later. A couple of years ago this was a small affair. It seems like this year half the conference will turn up. 🙂
Cheers
Tim…
After watching my name bounce from 3rd, to 2nd, to 1st, then back to 2nd in the standby list I finally got on the plane. Talk about relief!
Well I’m in San Francisco at the Serrano hotel, just across from the Hilton. I smell of long haul plane, but I’m going straight out to register and have a look round.
I’ve got a pig of a headache now, but I’m happy I finally made it.
Big thanks to the ladies and gentlemen at Oracle Travel and to Lillian for organizing everything for me at this end. Also, big thanks for the messages from everyone on my last post. 🙂
Cheers
Tim…
I was told about 23:00 last night I would be on a flight at 9:45 this morning. I’ve been standing in a queue for an hour to be told I’m not on the flight. I’m currently 2nd on the standby list for a flight that has been overbooked by about 50 people. I really don’t think I’m getting out of here today…
I’m struggling to keep calm…
Cheers
Tim…
PS. Mom. Please don’t phone or text me to ask me how I am. You will not like the reply.
It’s now 21:45 German time and I have no news about what is going on. It looks like a straight flight to SF will cost and extra $4,400 and someone has got to decide who is going to pay it. Oracle Travel are being really cool, unfortunately this is a three-way conversation between Oracle Travel, Lufthansa and United, and I guess none of them want to pay. From what I’ve seen so far, the blame lies firmly at the feet of United, but who knows what will come out with the wash.
Some time tonight I’m expecting a call to tell me when I’m going to fly. Alternatively, I’m thinking about applying for residency. 🙂
Cheers
Tim…
I’ve not made my connection to San Franciso. 🙁
What seems to have happened is when Oracle Travel booked the flight with Star Alliance, they booked the first leg with Lufthansa and the second leg with United via Lufthansa. Lufthansa had me on list of passengers, but United didn’t. It was a United plane and I wasn’t on the list so they wouldn’t let me on and it went without me. I’m now sitting in Frankfurt airport waiting for Oracle Travel and United to work out what happens next. I was told by one of the booking desk guys that the flights tomorrow are already fully booked, so I might be here for a couple of days… 🙁
If you were expecting to meet up with me at OpenWorld, don’t hold your breath…
Cheers
Tim…
Actually I do know when I will be back, but I wanted to carry on with the line from the song. 🙂
Just thought I would write to say article production and forum duties will probably be very limited over the next couple of months as I’m doing a bunch of conferences. Sorry if this inconveniences anyone, but you get what you pay for… 🙂
My family will be reading the blog to check I’m still alive, so there will be lots of, “I’m still alive”, type posts. I’m sure most of you out there are used to my off-topic ramblings by now anyway. 🙂
So it’s off to OpenWorld first…
Cheers
Tim…
I’m sending a public information announcement out to the world…
Don’t buy Spore unless you want to lose several days of your life stuck in front of the computer. It’s the most infuriatingly addictive game I’ve ever played! You start life as a primative organism and gradually evolve into bigger creatures, then tribes, then civilizations, then move into space. It’s crazy addictive. 🙂
The day I bought Spore I started playing at about 10:30 AM. The first time I checked my clock it was 04:30 AM the next day. I hadn’t eaten, left the house, anything… I vowed not to play it again, but I’ve spent a few days more on it since then. I’ve gone cold turkey now because I’ve got to get stuff ready for OpenWorld, but I know I’m just one mouse click away from losing another 24 hours… 🙂
Cheers
Tim…
Sun have announced their revolutionary new product xVM. It’s an open source Xen derivative that installs on bare-metal.
Wait a minute… That sounds remarkably like what Oracle did with Oracle VM, which was released about a year ago…
So now we have four big players wanting a share of the market:
You have to take the word “free” with a pinch of salt. With most of these tools, the real power comes with the enterprise tools and they cost money. Even so, as far as basic hypervisors go, it’s looking a lot more crowded in free-town.
I guess the one that stands out on this list is Hyper-V because it isn’t really a bare-metal installation. You run Hyper-V on a Windows Server 2008 box and it effectively demotes the server to a partition, or virtual machine. As a result, if you want to run a bunch of Linux VMs, you still have to have the Windows Server 2008 parition managing the lot. Not what I would call bare-metal. I suppose this is less of a hardship for a Windows shop, but it just doesn’t sound like an enterprise product to me. Just an opinion. 🙂
It looks like the next couple of years are going to be kinda interesting. VMware is still the name on everyones lips, but the profit margins are going to take a bit of a beating as the competition fires up…
Cheers
Tim…