Conference Attendees Ask, `Why Isn't Oracle Here?'

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ATLANTA, Apr 30, 2001 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Organizers and attendees of the 11th Annual Oracle Applications Users Group's Spring Conference discussed the lack of Oracle presence at this week's conference in an "Ask OAUG" open Q&A panel.

Consensus among conference attendees was a desire for Oracle's return.

One attendee from a federal government agency that is currently one of Oracle's largest HR customers, expressed frustration at Oracle's absence. "We're talking to Oracle regularly, and somewhat loudly," he said. "We cancelled on AppsWorld because we saw it as a way to circumvent the OAUG. We're very committed to getting Oracle back to this conference."

An Oracle proposal to merge the OAUG and Oracle shows into one Oracle managed event was rejected by the OAUG membership by 85 percent in a survey conducted last spring of which 70 percent of the members responded. Oracle announced during the OAUG's Spring 2000 conference in Philadelphia that it would no longer participate at the OAUG's two annual North American conferences, in order to create its own AppsWorld marketing events.

"We want to have Oracle here but the OAUG is committed to remaining an independent, user-focused forum for Oracle Applications education," said Young.

Negotiations are ongoing for the return of Oracle participation in the OAUG shows. The OAUG and Oracle have a meeting scheduled for Monday at Oracle headquarters in Redwood Shores, California.

"In my opinion, this conference is worthwhile without Oracle's participation," said another user. "But I'd rather have Oracle here to provide insight on the company's future direction. That's the one thing that's missing."

"We're committed to holding our conferences with or without the participation of Oracle," said Young. "The OAUG has been able to fill in the gaps left by the absence of Oracle but we'd prefer for it to be here. We're committed to our user education focus and independence but we're hoping that reasonable compromises can be made at our meeting next week."

About Oracle Applications Users Group (OAUG)(R)

With a wide range of activities such as conferences, publications, affiliated group events, and a variety of member services, OAUG works to increase the members' knowledge and understanding of Oracle Applications and to communicate their issues and needs to Oracle Corporation.

Today, OAUG has 2,200 corporate members who represent tens of thousands of individual users worldwide, including representatives from more than 25 of the Fortune 100 companies, and represents diverse backgrounds, industries and geographic locations. Members include end users, service providers, hardware vendors, and third-party software solution providers, and represent 71 affiliated geographical and special interest groups from around the world.

The OAUG holds semi-annual conferences in North America each Spring and Fall and annual European and Asia/Pacific conferences. Over the past eight years, conference attendance has increased dramatically with the 2000 Spring Conferences attracting more than 10,000 attendees.

For more information on the OAUG, visit its Web site at http://www.oaug.org/.

CONTACT:          For OAUG

                  Jason C. Williams, 678/781-7203

                  mailto:jason@williammills.com

                  or

                  Gregory M. Rose, 678/781-7204

                  mailto:greg@williammills.com
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