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Ask HN: Who is still using Oracle?
I am always astonished to see that Oracle is the third largest software maker by revenue after Microsoft and Google. The thing is, I don't recall ever seeing Oracle databases mentioned in a job post. I only ever see MySQL, Postgres, couple others, or a NoSQL database like Mongo. Never, ever Oracle.
But evidently they're still here in force. Who is still using Oracle?
- jstewartmobile 8y agoGovernments, universities, school systems, etc. When it's other people's money, or if you're swimming in so much cash flow that the occasional six-figure-surprise licensing visit is a rounding error, Oracle is a fantastic choice!
- Jackypot 8y agoI interviewed for a company which made auditing software for government departments. I asked why they chose Oracle and they explained that governments get a hefty discount, so it was actually more cost-effective than the alternatives (e.g. enterprise SQL Server). So the motivation can actually be the opposite!
- jstewartmobile 8y agoEven at half-price, the cost is still out-of-this-world.
- aprdm 8y agoFor a lot of businesses the Oracle license cost is a rounding error.
- PaulHoule 8y agoReal businesses that are making money. You don't see them hiring much because they are nursing old systems that are imperfect but not entirely out of control, have low employee turnover, etc.
- franzwong 8y agoNot only database, Oracle's ERP is also popular.
- ineedasername 8y agoLarger enterprise level organizations. It's especialy used in ERP software. In the Higher Education sector two of the most popular ERP solutions are Banner Student and a Peoplesoft application customized for higher ed. Banner runs on Oracle, and Peoplesoft is an Oracle-owned solution.
- jackblack8989 8y agoBecause no big companies post here. HN is a niche.
- samstave 8y agoAlmost every Bank in the world?
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- aprdm 8y agoAs mentioned big companies use it. Imagine a company with many many years of software development and libraries built on top of Oracle. Not easy to switch. (Same for perforce)
- richardknop 8y agoGovernments, universities, hospitals, banks, insurance companies, any big company where tech is just a utility, not a product (car manufacturers, factories etc).
- thorin 8y agoHave used Oracle for almost 20 years ( also sql server, postgres, mongo, redid, sqlite). The database itself is a great product and has a free and cheapish option. I've worked on major UK utilities, oil and gas and investment banking projects. Many enterprise companies have multi-million lines of plsql and thousands of db tables. I've migrated some systems away from Oracle to "save money" but it costs a lot to move an entire business to a new platform while they are running in production.
- eb0la 8y agoIf you support packaged applications, you'll be having an Oracle backend. Oracle was very clever offering free development licenses to software developers years ago. This made them the db of choice for people buying a premade solution. Nowadays it is different because we have a lot of open source DBs available to test for free; but long running monolythical apps won't change easily.