But it seems some Oracle users prize simplicity over Web 2.0 bling.

"Metalink Classic is for Developers and DBAs," said poster "2889" in a recent post to the Oracle forum. "[The] new Metalink, Twitter, Facebook is for the rest. Somehow marketing invaded MetaLink."

The portal's Flash-heavy interface is drawing particular scorn, with one user saying its "movie-like screen graphics" are "slow and annoying."

Poster "Paul M." also decried the new UI. "We don't need special effects, special effects are for games. And we don't even need graphics, we just need functionality, intuitiveness and speed," he wrote.

"I am not 12 years old or in upper management and subsequently I not impressed by sliding windows and glossy borders," wrote user "Fuzzypig," a self-described "geek techie."