Oracle not listening yet

Oracle's customers may be talking, but they're not yet being heard via "Oracle Listens," a public-relations effort Oracle had originally planned to launch Sept. 9 during the run-up to its giant OpenWorld conference on Sept. 21.

The project, which has been rescheduled to begin sometime this week, will see the Oracle.com landing page transformed into a "simple UI that has one purpose: to gather ideas from the user community, about any aspect of Oracle," wrote Justin Kestelyn, editor of the Oracle Technology Network, in a blog post on Sept. 8.

Oracle executives are supposed to answer customer questions directly. The campaign will also employ Oracle's Mix social-networking platform. Oracle.com visitors can also skip through to the normal homepage if they wish.

Last week, the idea drew praise from analyst Charlene Li, who had been briefed on Oracle's plans. "It's a bold move that highlights how serious Oracle is about listening to and embracing their customers and partners," she wrote in a blog post, though noting that it could backfire if Oracle doesn't sustain the effort in some way. "Once Oracle's customers/partners get a taste of this 'new' Oracle, they are going to want more."

Oracle plans to "transform this experience into a permanent fixture of Oracle's brand-to-community-to-brand conversation," Kestelyn posted previously.

But for now, the show is on hold for reasons that were unclear Tuesday.

Kestelyn had previously cited last-minute improvements for the extended wait, but in a comment posted Monday, appeared to have no definitive word on when the promotion would begin.

"As you can see there have been delays yes," he wrote. "I do expect to hear news about this in the next day or two, and of course when I know, you'll know."

An Oracle representative could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.

IDG News Service

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