A matter of timing

Some attendees at the conference also noted that Oracle's decision to extend World support beyond the previous 2013 termination date comes too late to help many longtime customers.

J.D. Edwards' lack of support for the line in recent years, which was not addressed until it was acquired by PeopleSoft Inc. and then by Oracle, along with a lack of upgrades, led many sites to replace the software, users said.

For example, the IT staff at Benderson Development Corp., a Buffalo, N.Y.-based real estate firm, is preparing to replace World with Enterprise-One, said Dave Hyzy, director of IT at the company. World has served Benderson well, Hyzy said at the conference, but real estate industry-specific upgrades have been lacking.

Hyzy said Benderson decided to replace World rather than have its internal development team customize the software.