Oracle losing support of JDE, PeopleSoft users

Oracle's honeymoon with users of the JD Edwards and PeopleSoft software applications it acquired at the start of 2005 is over, the UK Oracle User Group (OUG) has found.

The findings, published in a survey conducted by the user group, show that while Oracle's takeover of Siebel is seen by 64 per cent of users as a positive investment, JD Edwards and PeopleSoft users' confidence has waned somewhat since last year.

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UKOUG chairman Ronan Miles said: "PeopleSoft and JD Edwards users have now had two years about in the Oracle world. This time last year we saw that PeopleSoft users were understanding of what Oracle was doing. What we see now is that satisfaction has slipped a little but within the noise level."

JD Edwards is a different matter, said Miles. Following Oracle's long-running acquisition of PeopleSoft, the JD Edwards (JDE) community had convinced itself Oracle would sell off the division which it acquired at the same time, said Miles. At the time of the acquisitions a popular rumour held that PeopleSoft only bought JD Edwards to drain its coffers, thereby making itself less attractive to Oracle. Miles said: "The greatest fears among JD Edwards users have been assuaged," and now they are looking for some investment in the brand.

He added: "We were all aware of these general feelings but not the size of the swing. We know Oracle does have a programme to invest in JDE users for the coming year, and Oracle's ambition needs to be not [making] the fearful fearful again but to encourage the hopeful that there is real opportunity."

A surprisingly high uptake of Oracle's 10g database was among the other surprises in the survey. Where 17 per cent of those questioned were using 10g last year, 37 per cent responded that they are using it in 2006. In contrast, 61 per cent of users were using 9i in 2005, dropping to 43 per cent this year.

Satisfaction with the Oracle application suites also shifted slightly this year. In 2005, 6.8 per cent and 47.6 per cent reported being "very happy" or "happy" with Oracle CRM but those figures dropped to 1.9 per cent and 46.3 per cent this year.

Matt Loney writes for ZDNet UK