Yesterday saw the formal launch of Oracle Corp’s much-hyped ‘internet ready’ database, Oracle 8i, but to users’ disappointment the software giant refused to give any firm pricing or packaging details for the new software. Speaking to a packed press conference after his keynote speech on the second day of Oracle’s OpenWorld user conference in San Francisco, CEO Larry Ellison refused to be drawn on the subject of pricing, saying only that Oracle 8i pricing would be largely unchanged from Oracle 8. Joking with the audience, he said yesterday’s launch was probably the third official roll out of Oracle 8i and added we hope to have at least two more before the product actually ships, which will be some time towards the end of December. Ellison positioned 8i as the the most important database announcement since the first version of Oracle. He added: this is incredibly important for us, it really changes the nature of our business. Upgrade versions of the new database will be numbered 8i.1, 8i.2 respectively, Ellison said, and the software will also be offered as an outsourced service, as part of Oracle’s newly-launched Business On-Line initiative. รก
