Several customers on hand for the launch and interviewed afterward were upbeat about the release. Jan Wagner, president of the independent Oracle Applications Users Group (OAUG), said the release shows Oracle's commitment to its program of continuous investment in existing product lines. "It shows users have chosen an application with a future, and so I'm very excited."

Wagner is also the London-based director of financial operations and internal review at NATO, which uses the E-Business Suite 11i 5.10 financials.

Having seen previews of Version 12, he noted that among the 1,500 or so enhancements in the software is an improved reporting capability using Oracle XML Publisher. The Java-based application is part of Oracle's Fusion middleware suite and allows nontechnical staffers to write their own reports in Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat for easier collaboration. Because of its international focus, NATO has strict financial reporting rules and the new reporting functions could make it easier to generate shared reports without the assistance of a database administrator, Wagner said.

Another user expressed cautious optimism about Version 12. David Rudzinksy, CIO at Hologic Inc., a Bedford, Mass.-based medical instruments maker, said he hopes the software's quality assurance is as good as that in E-Business Suite 11i 5.10, which his company currently uses and he feels was the best 11i release ever. He said Version 12 would need extensive internal testing before Hologic decides whether its worth the upgrade. "The cost of upgrading makes us look closer to be sure there is payback," he said.

Hologic is happy with 11i 5.10, and can upgrade directly to the Fusion applications from it without investing in Version 12. Rudzinksy also said he wants to hear specifics about Oracle's plans for its Siebel CRM applications and how they fit into the vendor's Fusion strategy.