Oracle reported fiscal Q1 2010 results yesterday. Why should open source vendors care? Well, there's obviously a concern when the vendor you're hoping will buy you has a bad quarter. All joking aside, the reason open source vendors -- specifically middleware vendors -- should care is apparent when looking at Oracle's Application versus Database and Middleware new license revenue. By the way, Oracle, a database is just another middleware category in most IT circles.
| In $ Millions | Fiscal 1Q 2009 | Fiscal 1Q 2010 | % Change |
| Applications New License Revenue | 331 | 317 | -4% |
| Database & Middleware New License Revenue | 906 | 711 | -22% |
Source: Oracle Q1 2010 Financial release (Pg. 10 of 12) [PDF]
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Oracle's Applications new license revenue declined by 4 percent year to year. While not great, a 4 percent decline is understandable in today's economy. The real shocker is the 22 percent year-to-year decline in Oracle's Database & Middleware new license revenue. Clearly, the economy plays a role in these results, but 22 percent is nearly six times higher than the decline in new applications licenses.
Since enterprise applications rely on middleware and databases, what's driving the 22 percent decline?
First, customers who've just received their maintenance bills, after a 20 to 40 percent hike, are thinking twice about deploying new middleware and database workload with the applications vendor. I say "applications vendor" because both Oracle and SAP have hiked their maintenance rates. As a result, customers have taken a second look at their combined Applications and Middleware spending.
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