News

Oracle Users' Gripes About Support Portal Going Unheeded

By IDG News Service Mon, Jul 27, 2009

Despite complaints from many users, Oracle is showing no signs it will reverse course on plans to shut down the venerable MetaLink support portal, long used by thousands of IT professionals around the world.The software vendor is planning to replace MetaLink with My Oracle Support (MOS), a Web 2.0 and social-networking infused portal with a dynamic, Flash-based look.

Oracle has offered users an option of logging into "Classic MetaLink" or the new site, but it will soon be no more, despite outcry from many users.

Many Oracle users say the MOS interface's use of Flash, which is not installed on many corporate sites and client machines, makes it difficult for them to do their jobs and has resulted in sluggish performance.

The gripes have been rolling in for weeks on both Oracle's official forums and listservs.

A poll started by Oracle DBA Jared Still has received more than 600 responses, with about 62 percent, or two-thirds, saying they preferred Classic MetaLink over MOS.

One European Oracle user said via e-mail that the MOS site struggles to perform over lower-bandwidth lines, and the redesign overall was unnecessary and even counterproductive.

"I think that if there are enough complaints from a large number of small customers, so revenue is influenced, then Oracle will listen," he said. "If Oracle does not listen to the customer base as a whole, they are in trouble."

In a recent message to users posted on an official support blog Oracle framed its decision as one of expedience, given the company's long chain of acquisitions.

"Oracle has acquired 50+ companies in the past 5 years. In order to provide a common, consistent support experience we are in the process of moving all of our customers onto a single, integrated support platform, My Oracle Support," it reads.

MOS is also integrated with Oracle's configuration manager, meaning it can use information about a customer's systems to find the answers to problems faster, the message adds.

Oracle is now working to upgrade the MOS and improve the user experience, according to the note.

But is unclear whether users' complaints are prompting Oracle to reconsider its decision to retire MetaLink, and at least continue providing it as an option. An Oracle spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.

Next :V Cast Apps Coming From Verizon, With Support From RIM

Channelworld.in News

Previous News Next News

Gartner’s Prediction On BPM

Through 2014, the act of composition will be a stronger opportunity to deliver value from software than the act of development. In the same year, Gartner further predicts that business process network (BPNs) will underpin 35% of new multi enterprise integration projects.

Micro Focus Unveils Silkperformer Cloudburst For Load Testing From The Cloud

With CloudBurst, SilkPerformer enables testing organizations to easily manage large load tests that emulate hundreds of thousands of users from multiple global points of presence and to quickly diagnose and resolve discovered issues.
Sonicwall Strengthens Commitment With Common Criteria Eal4+ Certification

It affirms that SonicWALL’s TZ and NSA products meet rigorous government requirements mandated for commercial information security products purchased by the U.S. government for use in national security systems.

Jetway Partners With DIGILINK (DIGICARE) For Service Support

Under the new partnership, DIGICARE the service division of DIGILINK will provide RMA services for JETWAY motherboards. JETWAY motherboards will be serviced from 50 locations in India with official authorization from JETWAY.
Cisco And Netapp Unveil End-To-End FCoE Solution With VMware

Reportedly, Cisco, NetApp, and VMware are currently the only networking, storage, and virtualization vendors to combine datacenter consolidation, virtualization, and automation in a jointly certified end-to-end FCoE solution that includes both FCoE initiators (such as Converged Network Adaptors) and FCoE storage targets.

MAIT : PC Sales Bounce Back, Cross 8 Million Units In 2009-10

The sales of desktops stood at 5.52 million (55.2 lakh) units registering a growth of 5%. Notebooks and Netbooks taken together recorded a consumption of 2.5 million (25 lakh) units, growing 65% over the last year.
Polycom And McAfee Alliance To Secure UC And Collaboration

Polycom plans to design solutions that feature McAfee threat protection, shielding Polycom telepresence users, from the desktop to the fully immersive suite, from potential and increasingly sophisticated security threats while making it easier to comply with privacy and confidentiality mandates.

IBM Announces Mid-Range Deduplication Appliance

The new mid-range 2U high (3.5-in) ProtecTIER TS7610 is a gateway device, meaning, it sits between an application server and its primary storage array, such as the IBM XIV storage system .
CA Technologies Secures Google Docs, Eyes More Of The Cloud

CA Technologies outlined plans to expand its cloud-computing security strategy, including immediate support for Google Docs by its CA Identity Manager product.

IT Departments Move Low-Risk Services To The Cloud

The outsourcing consultancy polled 140 corporate IT decision makers about their cloud computing perspectives and plans and found that nearly four out of five companies are considering cloud computing solutions. Three out of five are actually implementing them.