Oracles Project Fusion: Just a Leap of Faith? - Page 3

As soon as you talk Project Fusion or SAPs Enterprise Services project [which is SAPs blueprint for service-based, enterprise-scale business solutions that offer the increased levels of adaptability, flexibility, and openness required to reduce total cost of ownership], were talking three years away, minimum. Were at least six years away from live implementations. How about that figure Wookey dropped, about successfully hiring 99 percent of the PeopleSoft developers and technical support staffers it targeted? I was surprised. Just because the animosity at the executive level was so high. Many of the PeopleSoft executives at vice president level and above got lucrative packages to walk away. At the very top they got two years salary. So there were a lot of distraught people. This cool little company they worked at 10, 12 years was suddenly gone, and there was nothing they could do to save it. The question was, how far would that trickle down to support staff? But away from the [former PeopleSoft CEO and President Craig] Conway and [Oracle CEO Larry] Ellison level, their cultures were very similar. They were both very aggressive on the sales side, and on the technology side, they were both very interested in next-generation technology, always wanting to do the cooler thing. If [PeopleSoft founder] Dave Duffield decided to start another company in a completely related market, what percentage of that developer staff would say, "Im ready if you want me?" There was a feeling that Dave would do something. But he just made about $600 million on this transaction. Hes in his 60s. Im not sure he has to prove anything. If I had $600 million, I wouldnt be sitting in a hotel room in the lovely little ski town of Wiesloch [in Germany], getting ready to go visit SAP. Check out eWEEK.coms for the latest database news, reviews and analysis.