Oracle in trouble
philly.com | at | by Mike
The state of California for decades has relied on Oracle database software to track data from criminal justice records to payrolls. But the company's efforts last year to sell the state on consolidating its software purchases have come under increasing scrutiny. Last month, the state auditor concluded that the $95 million to $123 million contract, initially promoted as a way for California to save more than $100 million, could cost taxpayers millions of dollars for unneeded software.
"Oracle has a long tradition of aggressive sales and pricing tactics," said Betsy Burton, an analyst for Gartner, a Connecticut-based market research group that has been critical of Oracle. "But the fact is that today they are losing business to Microsoft and IBM because of their tactics."