Oracle Support Policy for 8.12

We're one of many customer that are contemplating upgrades within the next year or so. In our case, we'd upgrade to either 8.12 or 9.0 (after the 1st update comes out, of course). While 8.12 has been out for a few years and is going to a more stable choice to move to, Oracle will end Premier Support for 8.12 in April, 2011, per their currently stated support policy. So for us, if we upgraded in 2009, we'd end up with about 2 years on Premier Support before being forced to upgrade again (to stay on Premier Support).

I think it's time for Oracle to give 8.12 the same level of support that Xe has, and extend Premier Support until Dec., 2013. This would give us a few more years to actually utilize the software before having to upgrade yet again, and would allow more time for 9.0 to stabilize, allowing users to move to 9.0 at their own pace.

Don

While I agree with a lot of your opinions, and from the outset I might be certainly one of the advocates on the customer side - I actually support what Oracle is doing here as far as their "premier" support goes - and feel I have to provide some sort of explanation to what "premier" support and "lifetime" support provides.

"Premier" support provides bug-fixes and updates to the product. It is traditional for JDE/PSFT/ORCL to provide this type of support for a total of 5 years from product G/A.

The reasoning behind this is that in theory, all the bugs should have been discovered in the product within 5 years of customer use - thereby freeing up development to work on newer products.

Secondly, most companies already have budgeted a major release upgrade every 5 years.

HOWEVER, due to the takeover of Peoplesoft, Oracle had a LEGAL LIABILITY that forced them to extend Xe (and ERP 8.0) support for a FURTHER 5 years. This occurred in 2003, hence premier support is over in 2013.

Now, it is important to note that Xe/ERP 8.0 has more "bugs" than later versions of the product - and comparing the number of "bugs" in the product against 8.12 for example, you can see that there is a reason to extend support.

8.12 on the other hand, is VERY stable these days. Most companies are very happy over the product, and it is totally trustworthy for running most corporations.

In comparison, 8.9 (which was the first of the new releases) was buggy as can be. It is STRONGLY recommended that customers move from 8.9 to a higher release (8.12 for example) due to the number of issues in that product.

Once a customer has implemented whatever they need to implement - they really don't usually need additional bug fixes, because their testing usually shows that the functionality they are using is reliable.

Therefore, feel free to go to 8.12. you'll have "lifetime" support beyond 2011. I think JDE/ORCL might "extend" support a little beyond 2011 because I think 9.0 won't really be available until some point in 2010 (but, after all, its their call).

Remember, 9.0 is a "dot zero" release. I wouldn't make any recommendations to upgrade to the release until :

a. its been in the field a few months
b. usually after there have been 2-3 updates to the product

Therefore, go with what you know - not the vaporware. Remember, the foundation (tools release) will be the same between 8.12 and 9.0 - so it is unlikely going to provide any technical advantage...

I'll agree in principle...but I think the thinking is resultant from the history of E1/OW. It's been painfull. But really, the process for applying, maintaining, and obtaining fixes has changed. The old rule of thumb was "if it ain't broken, don't attempt to fix it". I think that is thrown out now.

Most installations that I find now in the consulting world are either doing one of two things...sticking to XE, because of the legal obligations Oracle had to agree to with the purchase of PSFT after the PSFT purchase of JDE, or those that are trying to keep "code current".

The days of "not applying a fix unless needed" is over. As with any other application, E1/OW has matured to the state where it's not as painful to try to stay "code current".

As many here have stated...it's not good business sense for any software vendor to spend money and resources on "legacy" software support, when new software enhancements and modifications are what brings in the "new" money and continued support.

And prior to any of the flames...I'm not suggesting that everyone needs to be on the latest and greatest...each case is different, and realistically dependent on the business needs, not the technology. But the days of not upgrading or patching the E1 system are soon fading away.

Does anyone else remember when all fixes were Word documents that required actual programmatic changes? hee hee