Is this the best time to be touting perceived innovation, or could Oracle's time be better spent elsewhere? There is nothing like the summer. It’s a time for kicking back on vacation with a good book, sipping a cool margarita, enjoying long days at the beach or lake, and eating plenty of potato salad. And in the spirit of grand summer tradition, of course, there is that timeless event known as 100 Straight Days of Oracle Innovation! “What’s that?” might ask those of you not in the know. Well let me fill you in on a few details. At a time when Oracle customers are suffering through a cataclysmic global financial crisis, layoffs are as reliable as 100-degree heat in Arizona, and IT budgets are under intense scrutiny, Oracle has decided that in the 100 days leading up to its OpenWorld event it will showcase all of the innovation it offers companies. “For more than 32 years,” its PR machine points out, “Oracle has been a technology innovator, transforming the way business is conducted.” Hmmm, now let’s think about this for a second. Do customers want to read 100 press releases about Oracle “innovation” (and that term, in this context, is highly debatable) when there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell that many could a) afford all this new “innovation”; b) find the resources or business desire to implement it; c) actually implement on time/on budget; and d) really care about this nonsense? As I recently wrote, just how much ground-breaking software innovation can a company actually deal with at the moment? Stark corporate IT realities have a way of quickly squashing innovative tech dreams. Just so you don’t think I’m making this stuff up, a recent Forrester survey of more than 2,200 IT executives and technology decision-makers found that modernizing key legacy applications was the top software initiative for businesses this year—cited by 64 percent of enterprise and 55 percent of SMB respondents. Hmmm. “Modernizing key legacy applications”…that doesn’t sound too good. And it also doesn’t sound like the type of IT environment ready to embrace expensive Oracle “innovation.” I can think of a couple ways of how Oracle should have spent 100 days: How about “100 Days of Showing the Value of Maintenance and Support Fees”? Or “100 Days of Laying Out a Clear Software Roadmap”? Instead, Oracle has chose to propagate its “innovation” over the next 100 days, and also raise its prices on some products, change the usability of its support site (to the ire of many), and vow to keep its cash cow maintenance fees at their sky-high levels. It’s strange that Oracle’s customers don’t seem to be bothered by it—at all. I’m beginning to think Oracle customers and their CIOs just don’t care enough about enterprise software costs. They’re allowing Oracle to dictate every single term in supposed vendor-client relationship, and Oracle and its shareholders are winning mightily. In fact, it’s a blood bath. Do you Tweet? Follow me on Twitter @twailgum. Follow everything from CIO.com on Twitter @CIOonline. Related content opinion What CIOs Need to Know About HP's Acquisition of Autonomy Here's why you should be paying attention: it's a big analytics play that could help lead the way to making sense of all the unstructured data that's overwhelming enterprises of all sizes, says analyst Charles King. By Todd R. Weiss Aug 24, 2011 4 mins Business Intelligence Data Warehousing Data Management opinion Enterprise BI Made Simple Will a simplified version of enterprise business intelligence software spur user adoption? Gartner analyst James Richardson thinks so. By Todd R. Weiss Aug 15, 2011 4 mins Business Intelligence Data Management opinion ERP Market Shake-Up: What It Means to Your Company ERP vendors continue to merge and be acquired at a steady pace in 2011. Here are some tips on how you can protect your company's interests as the marketplace continues to shift, from analyst Albert Pang. By Todd R. Weiss Aug 03, 2011 4 mins CIO ERP Systems Enterprise Applications opinion Cut IT Costs for Older ERP Apps With Third-Party Support Some large enterprises are looking to third-party ERP support providers to reduce their maintenance and support costs by 50 percent or more rather than sticking with their existing ERP vendors. Rebecca Wettemann of Nucleus Research explains the circu By Todd R. Weiss Aug 02, 2011 4 mins ERP Systems IT Strategy Enterprise Applications Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe