DISQUS

Jake,
Came in at a late stage as Doug "tagged" me early this week and I've been busy with work (no excuse). I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Remember that you can't please everybody all the time so take it (the criticism) like water from a duck's back.

Peter.

The waived conference fees for invited bloggers is great and for those of us fortunate or unfortunate to be employed, our employers will and do pay for our T & L plus salaries to attend BUT that is for the sole purpose of learning not to blog about the event.

For those who are self-employed, the "training/learning" mindset has to kick in where if a vendor offers or waives their training fees, would you attend even if you have to pay for your own T & L? I would think that each will have to consider the merits (i.e. benefits vs costs) BUT if Oracle intent that you are invited as "PRESS" with the expectation that your sole intent was to blog about the event (i.e. not for you to learn), then that's a different story.

I am assuming here, but I think Oracle's intent was to invite the bloggers along to learn AND blog about the event (negative or positive). Obviously it looks like there are opportunities available to the bloggers that are not available to the general attendees so that is a plus.

Regardless, FULL DISCLOSURE is the only way to go when blogging about the event/sessions.

Jake,
Just to be clear on my stance. I don't care whether Oracle pays for the blogger to attend OOW (expenses, travel, conference fees) or not. I just think that everything should be above board. If said blogger is to blog about the event, there should be full disclosure and if said blogger were to ask for payment on top of that, that's is paid marketing and whatever is posted by the blogger should be considered "paid marketing".

I think it is great that Oracle is taking the first step to extend an invite to bloggers (qualified) to attend as part of the "Press" - free conference fees.

Minor correction.

"Analysts get the whole package paid for but press do not as it would be a conflict of interest." should be "Analysts get the whole package paid for but press do not as it would be a conflict of interest???".

That's for Justin not Vinnie or Michael.

Michael/Vinnie,
You guys are too funny. Analysts get the whole package paid for but press do not as it would be a conflict of interest.

Justin, are you saying that the analysts who writes research pieces (say either Gartner or Forrester) with their "Magic Quadrant", "Hype Wave" or whatever shows Oracle being in the "Leading Innovator and Implementor", I should take with a grain of salt as they have been paid by Oracle to ensure their ranking whereas others who have been lumped into the lower quadrant did not forked out the required monies to buy the analyst's "opinion and research"?

That's a good one that my CIO is going to have to reconsider paying our subscription fees to these research services for "PAID MARKETING". Me thinks that I have to talk to my Gartner representative regarding getting my subscription fees back.

I will wade in here. I think it is great that Oracle decided to extend an invite to bloggers who blog about Oracle and its technologies by providing them with a Press pass and as such they should be treated as "Press" and that when they blog about OOW, they need to provide disclosure that Oracle "paid" for their conference fees.

That is, they can attend the conference for free but will have to pick up their own travel and lodging expenses. If not, it is pretty hard to convince readers that these bloggers are going to be impartial knowing that Oracle paid for their trip. Take a look at the amount of negative comments regarding the AMD/Acer Laptop giveaway to selected bloggers. Why? The main reason is that if you blog positively about Oracle and its products (even if deservely so), there will always the lingering doubt that it was done because you have been "paid" to do so. Would you trust any studies commissioned by Microsoft/Oracle/IBM (any organization) where the outcome of the studies favours the sponsor in question? That's advertisment and marketing.

I think what is important here is FULL DISCLOSURE so that your readers understand that your blog entry was made under the following conditions (e.g. Oracle paid for ..., etc).

Vinnie, I'm not sure what the arrangement was between Oracle and Gartner and I'm distressed that it was the case (I just came from the Gartner Symposium in Orlando) but it sure would cause me pause in terms of Gartner's recommendations if they favour Oracle over others. Luckily in all the sessions that I have attended last week, there were no indications that Gartner prefers a vendor over others.

Eddie,
Congratulations! You totally deserves it.

Now you can put that A of Spade on your business card, :)

Not a surprise as to who's top but would have expected JLewis to be a close second.

Some surprises there as I would have thought there are others who should be higher but then I realize that my scope in reading blogs is limited to Oracle Tech Stack but not to their programming tech.

I too use ZA and AVG but for Spyware, I use SpyBot. Preference is to use multiple anti-virus software but my original Norton's lapsed and didn't get to renew.

Here's what I had posted on my blog (as a comment)

I think the problem is with the fact that they have just added the following, `(C) in the case of subparagraph (C) of subsection (a)(1), includes any device or software that can be used to originate telecommunications or other types of communications that are transmitted, in whole or in part, by the Internet (as such term is defined in section 1104 of the Internet Tax Freedom Act (47 U.S.C. 151 note)).' to update the act to include any devices/software that can be used for communications and if the original Act says "
makes a telephone call or utilizes a telecommunications device, whether or not conversation or ommunication ensues,without disclosing his identity and with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass any person at the called number or who receives the communications;.

You have the potential to apply this to blogs, emails, messaging, or web postings as all of the above are forms of communications. Who is to say that someone might be annoyed by various postings and could potential file charges against the author. For example, if I constantly and consistently post about an individual or group of individuals, then the intent to "annoy or harass" is there? Hmm, if someone persistently post about Larry Ellison not willing to get Oracle to do something about security (or lack of) in the Oracle products, that individual could potentially be brought up on charges under the new act. Food for thought.

Eddie,
A sign of how commercialized Xmas has become. Just like everything else, there are extremes. For example, one of our local hotel (the Delta Airport) took down all their Christmas decorations because of a conference happening on Dec 24/25 for a group opposed to the commercialization of Xmas. I think that's tacky but that's the other extreme.

Anyhow, have a great Xmas and wonderful New Year with the family.

Hopefully my copy would have arrived today when I get home from work. Amazon.com told me that it was shipped Nov 27 and I should have gotten it Nov 28th.

Postage was higher for me (>$6.00) as I am in Canada. One of my DBAs got his already.

That's part of the problem today where the US do not seems to understand. Take Canada, closest neighbour with the longest unprotected border, as an example.

I still get questions from folks down in the States as to where Canada is and do we still live in igloos. The world is a lot bigger than the US eventhough everything seems to be US-based :D

Nice pics. Seems like you were adventurous enough to try the various exotic dishes