It doesn't take, um, an oracle to figure out what technology sits at the center of Oracle's strategy. The company makes the most expensive, most advanced databases on the market. In a world where databases get really, really big and need to be really, really fast, Oracle is almost always going to be the best option. And shockingly, it doesn't see the Microsoft desktop playing much of a role. Go figure.
Here are the basics of how Oracle sees the future of the corporate computing world. Users will essentially have one tool available to them: a Web browser. Whether users are in-house using high-speed connections or on the road with modems, all information would be stored on a massive backend database. Everything - every document, email, and video clip - would be stored within the database. The now-ubiquitous system of having individual file servers that store different portions of a company's files would die. Everything would be centralized.
There are two basic advantages to this system. The first is cost savings. When dozens of NT servers are replaced by one humongous database, not only do those individual servers disappear but so does the staff needed to maintain them. This system would also simplify the desktop. Having only a browser, users would require hardly any help desk support.
The second advantage is pretty fascinating. With files stored in a database, everything - let me emphasize everything - can be the subject of queries.
Have you ever tried to help people find files when they couldn't remember their name nor their locations on the network? It's not fun. But if every document could be the subject of queries, you could simply search through the database for a specific word or phrase that appears somewhere in the missing document.
Moreover, if every word processing file and spreadsheet within an organization could be integrated into a working relational structure, access to diffuse information would be much simpler, which is a huge benefit.
This integration becomes a theoretical possibility because of two major features added to Oracle's newest product, called Oracle 8i. The first is the Internet File System (IFS). IFS provides a way to give the database a familiar interface to users. Basically, a network drive is mapped on a workstation for the database. Within that drive are folders that look identical to folders seen on any local or network drive. By dragging and dropping items into these folders, they are actually added to the database. Once there, these items can be opened and worked on in ways familiar to everyone.
The other major change is the deep integration of Java into the database. According to the products' makers, the integration is so deep that Oracle 8i can become pretty much whatever a Java developer wants to make of it.
Case in point is the built-in HTTP server. Programmed in Java, it allows the database to deal with HTTP requests directly without futzing around with Apache, IIS, or anything else. I have no idea whether or not these features are high quality, but I imagine (or hope) that they are good tools for analyzing pageview information.
At this point, you may be getting a feeling of déjà vu. This sounds a lot like the Network Computer (NC) model that we heard so much about over the past couple of years - a model that has pretty much been a dismal failure. Though there was no mention of the NC at the conference (and all demonstrations were done on Windows 95 machines), some other buzzwords of this model were thrown around in a big way. The "Java appliance" was lauded by Scott McNealy (of course) and Larry Ellison.
Now, strictly for argument's sake, let's say that all of the Fortune 500 companies pick up the Oracle theory and move their operations to the Internet. Somehow all client-side Java problems are solved, and Netscape 5.0 turns out to be all the browser they'll ever need for all their applications. In addition, let's say that the thousands of modem connections to the database prove to be robust enough for even the most demanding users.
What a wonderful world it will be. Right?
If this vision comes to pass in the corporate world, there will be one huge upside: Those king-of-the-mountain network administrators will be brought back down to earth.
But there's still a question of how this new world order will affect those of us not working for some monstrous multinational company. How will it filter down to the smaller businesses where many of us make our livings?
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