
Ask HN: Who is still using Oracle? - aerovistae
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&#x27;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.<p>But evidently they&#x27;re still here in force. Who is still using Oracle?
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thorin
Have 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.

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jstewartmobile
Governments, 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!

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Jackypot
I 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!

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jstewartmobile
Even at half-price, the cost is still out-of-this-world.

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aprdm
For a lot of businesses the Oracle license cost is a rounding error.

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richardknop
Governments, universities, hospitals, banks, insurance companies, any big
company where tech is just a utility, not a product (car manufacturers,
factories etc).

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eb0la
If 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.

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ineedasername
Larger 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.

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samstave
Almost every Bank in the world?

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PaulHoule
Real 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.

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aprdm
As 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)

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jackblack8989
Because no big companies post here. HN is a niche.

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franzwong
Not only database, Oracle's ERP is also popular.

