Who will win the "Enterprise Software" War?

Its hot and its happening! There is an all-out war going on between software majors like Oracle, IBM, MSFT, SAP et al to grab the largest market share in the Enterprise Software market. Talk of products like databases, application server suites, development tools, business applications etc., and we are talking about lots and lots of dollars!!!

Oracle has swallowed 11 companies in the last 24 months including PeopleSoft and Siebel. Open Standards and 'information-age' apps are the buzzwords for this company.

SAP is tying up with MSFT to leverage MSFT's installed base of proprietary technology. MSFT, inturn, sees this as a gamble to get a foothold in the business segments, where its weak.

IBM- Well as they say- "Nobody ever got fired for recommending IBM."

Apart from the giants, there are loads of pureplay small firms like BEA, Cognos, Business Objects and many others.

Every one is fighting for the dollars of the IT departments of companies across the globe.

Who do you think will be the winner at the end of it?

 

I request you to post your views as well.

 

Any views on this?

 

abhi mittal,
M$ doesn't deserve my vote, as long M$ keeps on creating mediocre softwares.

I recently read this thread :
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=99605
Microsoft Corp. currently has a total of about 3,000 MVPs (Most Valuable Professional).
Did these MVPs create MSIE and MS Outlook, the Most Valuable Softwares for internet ? I hope not.

My vote goes to the Mozilla Foundation (= Others) without any doubt.

 

And what do these people do, create the most reliable softwares on earth!! I agree with you.

My vote is for Oracle which is leading the way the market will shape up with its Project Fusion and Fusion Middleware. Its offering the most comprehensive suite of backend software (databases), middle-tier technology and business applications.

I recently heard its CEO Larry Ellison say that the Oracle database has never been hacked for the last 15 years...on the other hand one needs 45 minutes to take control of any MS product!!!!!

 

A very good vote too.
I always heard that Oracle was strong in databases, which are the most important objects in any application software.

 

Oracle,

Because it can run on reliable OS-es like Solaris,HP UX and SGI and IBM's Unix-es
which Support real Enterprise servers (not pc's).

So if it is really Enterprise, it is Oracle, it can run on all the
top500 platforms:
(see
http://www.top500.org/lists/plists.php?Y=2005&M=06

But if you think that Enterprise must be able to run on a Intel-box,
with just a few CPU's (or even ONE )
and it doesn't matter the system needs to reboot every few months
or even worse few weeks, then you might be happy to use something else,
which is familiar.

But to be honest, all top 500 companies i've work(ed) for have all
their IMPORTANT database on Oracle with Solairs/Hp-UX etc.

Uptimes of YEARS, and NO anti-trojan AntiVirus tools etc.

That makes it possible to have 1 Database on several servers with 64 Cpu'seach (or more) if needed etc. etc.



Together with a NetApp fileserver (many Terrabytes,Fibre-opt disks)
that is fun to work with!

 

Couldnt agree with you more than this....
You just mentioned all my reasons for Oracle

By the way, apart from databases, they are making huge strides in mid-tier technology (application server, business intelligence, portals, BPEL, identity management et al) [ FUSION MIDDLEWARE)

Plus with their acquisition strategy for business applications, they are sure to beat the market! [PROJECT FUSION]

Did anyone attend the Oracle OpenWorld in San Francisco?

 

Interesting read on Oracle's acquisition strategy
http://www.oracle.com/corporate/acquisition.html

 

The ultimate winner is still up for grabs but I am certain that Microsoft is no longer a contender. At the end of the day, the most critical factor would be control of the server market, a market that MS is losing to UNIX and kin. Linux is eroding both MS's server and home market as more and more native Linux applications/games/utilities are being developed.

In fact, because of this, the question is not "whether MS it will lose its dominance" but rather "when will MS lose its dominance?"

Back to the poll, I'd bet on Oracle....

 

Even I feel that MS is not a contender at all in the enterprise marketspace. Its not scalable, it has downtime problems, has less functionlity and above all, its DAMN insecure. Plus, going with MS ensures a vendor lock-in due to propreitary technology.
Oracle is totally driven by industry standards...this company sure gotta win!

 

What you really should be looking at is Google. The next great innovations are coming from there. Most of the companies that you mentioned will be surpassed by Google by the end of this decade. And if you think that they have not entered the enterprise market, they already have.

 

Ah, you beat me to it. Microsoft is going to be one hell of a contender, though. Regardless of what you think of their software or business practices, you have to admit that they're not going to be easily surpassed.

 

One thing that everyone is missing. A dark horse (or Emu ) that could come from almost nowhere, and completely own segments of the enterprise software market.

Don't think it can happen? When Google came out, search was effectively "owned" by Altavista.

Maybe Google will be this dark horse - maybe it will be someone else.

MS will still be around - they own the desktop, and unless Longhorn/Vista is a complete footshot, they will for some time.


Mike

 

Another thing to look at is the market cap, and 5 year trends of these companies:

Computer Associates (16.05B):
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=CA&t=5y

Google (86.21B):
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=GOOG&t=2y

IBM (127.71B):
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=IBM&t=5y

Microsoft (266.10B):
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=MSFT&t=5y

Oracle (62.12B):
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=ORCL&t=5y

SAP (53.34B):
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=SAP&t=5y

In January of 05, most companies peaked and then either leveled, or declined. Google is the only one that is still going up. And it's market cap puts it at number 3 in this list. Not so much a dark horse when you look at the numbers.

Now look at the latest news articles for Google:

Google news search:
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=Google&ie=UTF-8&scoring=d

CNN:
http://search.cnn.com/pages/search.jsp?query=Google

Google's approach is from the outside-in, not inside-out. It is simply brilliant. It is fun to watch them come in from the fringes.

 

The war has officially started: http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=26734

 

The agreement between Sun and Google is a great development. But, how much dent can it create in MS-Office's marketshare is yet to be seen.

 

I don't think that you will see Google make an office product. I think that their approach is from the outside-in, not the inside-out. So you will not see them make an OS either. Their approach is simply brilliant.

 

Tough to answer poll...as I think it depends on which specific Enterprise area you're talking about. Define which Enterprise niche...you talking production software? Huge accounting apps? (MS is diving into this area fast)? Server OSs? Database packages? SQL is growing fast, and don't forget .NET.

There's e-mail, antivirus, tough to say, some are stronger than others in specific areas.

 

I don't get why you bash MVPs. Do you know what MVPs are? They are simply people that help others...often on tech forums, blogs, publish help articles, basically active members in the community who "help" others. Microsoft recognizes those helpful people through this award. MVPs are not Microsoft employees. They don't deserve a bash from peeps who don't like Microsoft.

http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/MVPINTRO

 

I am talking of production software....think databases, application servers, portals, service-oriented-architectures, applications (accounting, HR, logistics etc)

 

Apparently we are not the only ones chewing on this subject:

Google accused of being the next SAP
http://www.theregister.com/2006/01/18/google_next_sap/

 

After reading the article from Time magazine, I remembered this old thread.

Google to Sell Online Software Suite

I guess I was wrong in my office suite prediction. Fifty dollars per person per year sounds like a great price. I would certainly signing consider up for it.

Watching Google grow certainly is a lot of fun.