"This analysis is completely bogus," Catz said. "It's not related to reality of any sort."

Despite their contentious litigation, HP and Oracle still work together in many areas and their partnership has not changed as a result of the disagreement over Hurd, Catz said. The two companies completed a manufacturing agreement just a week ago, she said.

Meanwhile, Oracle's chief competitors remain IBM, a key rival in the database market with its DB2 platform, SAP, "a vicious competitor" that is still embroiled in a case involving SAP's theft of data from Oracle, and Microsoft, "our classic competitor for many years," Catz said. Oracle and those competitors all maintain software porting arrangements, she said.

The IDG News Service