Several PeopleSoft users last week urged Oracle Corp. to extend support for the OneWorld XE line of applications developed by the former J.D. Edwards & Co.
Prior to its acquisition by Oracle, which was completed on Friday, PeopleSoft Inc. had said it would halt support for OneWorld XE on Feb. 28. Oracle officials declined to discuss the request for continued support last week.
Since Oracle gained a majority of PeopleSoft shares last month, its executives have been quietly meeting to decide how to execute the merger and handle customer petitions.
A half-dozen users interviewed last week said Oracle could gain goodwill with customers by granting some wish-list requests. In particular, five users urged Oracle to extend support for OneWorld XE, which is now part of the PeopleSoft EnterpriseOne suite, beyond next month.
"This would be a first good step, showing the old J.D. Edwards side of the house Oracle does have their best interests at heart," said Robert Robinson, business systems supervisor at Durr Industries Inc., an automotive supplier in Plymouth, Mich. Durr runs PeopleSoft OneWorld XE and plans to upgrade to a later version of EnterpriseOne by March.
"Oracle (initially) said all the right things, but this would be the first real test," Robinson added.
J.D. Edwards first launched OneWorld XE in October 2000 and renamed it J.D. Edwards 5 two years later. PeopleSoft renamed it EnterpriseOne, and its latest iteration is Version 8.11. Oracle has proposed setting the nomenclature back to the J.D. Edwards moniker.
Another big concern is Oracle"s future relationship with IBM, which is key for those J.D. Edwards users who want to remain on the iSeries platform, formerly the AS/400. The database rivals would need a close technical collaboration for Oracle to continue building iSeries applications. Oracle has promised to cooperate with IBM, but, Robinson asked, "what if it isn"t a cozy relationship?"
On Friday, Oracle announced that it had secured 97 percent of PeopleSoft"s shares and that the US$10.3 billion transaction had officially closed. Thus, Oracle can avoid having to take the matter directly to PeopleSoft"s shareholders, which could have extended the closing by more than a month.
Pledges of suppot
In a statement, Oracle reiterated that it "anticipates adopting and continuing PeopleSoft"s current support policy." Oracle also pledged to work with IBM and Microsoft Corp. to support their databases, "as long as a working relationship can be maintained." Oracle also said it intends to continue supporting the EnterpriseOne and World software products running on the iSeries, "although IBM cooperation will be required."
Many OneWorld XE customers have expressed concern about whether Oracle will hold to the PeopleSoft plan to halt OneWorld XE support next month, said John Matelski, a board member of Quest, an independent user group for J.D. Edwards customers and deputy CIO for the city of Orlando. "Extension of support on XE is huge," he said.
Not only is extended OneWorld XE support crucial, but so is continued support for the older, green-screen World applications, said William Gabby, North American operations manager at agribusiness Cargill Inc."s Global Financial Solutions business unit in Minnetonka, Minn.
Gabby said he"s skeptical, based on Oracle"s decision to stop actively marketing PeopleSoft applications in favor of the Oracle software. That move "leaves the current installed base concerned about the value of their investment," he said.
Ideally, Oracle will commit to the development, enhancement and marketing of World products as a new system and not as a cash cow, said Dave Hyzy, director of IT at Benderson Development Co., a real estate developer in Buffalo, N.Y. "Lacking that, I"d like to see Oracle announce the sale of World software, lock, stock and barrel to someone else," he said.