O-ZONE NEWS
Welcome to all new members who joined us over the past few weeks. We look forward to welcoming more members in the months ahead. Please pass this newsletter and details about the O-Zone portal to any of your colleagues that have an interest in developing .NET applications for Oracle Database. If you are an Oracle on Windows expert or have any relevant experiences you can share, we would like to hear from you please. If you are able to provide articles, a case study or can help in any other way, please contact me at grahamk@greymatter.com
A NEW LOOK for O-Zone!
We are in the process of redesigning the O-Zone portal. The portal has acquired a lot of material over the past year (and new members!) so we are building a cleaner interface to make it easier to locate and retrieve information. We are also taking the opportunity to group the resources in a more solutions orientated manner to give more practical assistance to our members. Following positive feedback, we will be adopting a similar layout to the ISV Resource Centre. This is a portal Grey Matter has put together for Oracle aimed at the ISV community. If there any enhancements you would particularly like to see made to O-Zone, please take this opportunity to contact me at grahamk@greymatter.com
WHAT'S NEW ON O-ZONE?
Application Express 3.1.1
An update of Oracle Application Express (APEX) became available at the end of May. This fixes a number of bugs and provides improved security. The new 3.1.1 patch update can be accessed from the O-Zone download page.
Organisations are adopting Oracle SQL Developer
Oracle describes how organisations are adopting Oracle SQL Developer, a free database development and migration tool, to simplify development cycles and reduce the need to buy third-party tools for developing and debugging SQL and PL/SQL code.
IMPORTANT OPPORTUNITY
What would you like to see in the next release of Oracle Developer Tools for .NET?
Oracle product managers Christian Shay and Alex Keh would like your feedback about features you'd like to see in the next .NET developer tools release. This is an important opportunity for O-Zone members to influence the future direction of the .NET developer toolset for Oracle. Please visit the O-Zone News page to provide feedback or contact me at grahamk@greymatter.com if you need any assistance.
EVENTS
Further details of the following can be found on the O-Zone Events page.
Oracle on Windows SIG Meeting, September 17
This Special Interest Group meeting for UKOUG members will take place in Leeds. Further details to follow.
Oracle OpenWorld 2008, September 21-25
Oracle OpenWorld is the world's largest gathering of Oracle customers, partners, developers and technology enthusiasts. The 2008 event will be held in San Fransisco at the Moscone Center. A dedicated developer stream with hands-on labs (Oracle Develop) will include .NET topics. Oracle Develop will run from Sunday September 21 through to Tuesday September 23 at the San Francisco Marriott.
Oracle and .NET SIG Meeting, October 1
This Special Interest Group meeting for UKOUG members will take place at the Microsoft Offices in London. Further details to follow.
RAC & HA SIG Meeting, October 2
This Special Interest Group meeting for UKOUG members will take place in the Midlands, venue to be confirmed. Further details to follow.
20th annual UKOUG Conference and Exhibition, December 1-5
Planning ahead, be sure to make a note of the 20th annual UKOUG Conference and Exhibition which will take place on 1-5 December at the ICC in Birmingham. The UKOUG is planning to celebrate the 20th anniversary by making this conference their biggest and best event to date.
Microsoft Visual Studio Events
Special 1-day workshops are being hosted by Microsoft at their Thames Valley Park, Reading offices. These are intended for project managers and those embarking on an evaluation program. The sessions are designed to provide insight into Microsoft’s .NET development framework and the collaboration tools that form part of the Visual Studio Team System environment. The events occur monthly and allow small groups of customers to get in front of Visual Studio and some of the product specialists at Microsoft. Please contact me if you require further details or would like me to make arrangements for you to attend one of these free events.
O-ZONE MANAGED EVALUATIONS PROGRAM
Is your interest in Oracle on Windows related to a requirement to complete a formal, managed evaluation or perhaps a .NET development and deployment project? If so, the articles, tutorials and downloads provided by O-Zone will assist with this. In addition, we can allocate a technical account manager to help manage the provision of the resources you need. This could involve answering questions, pointing you in the right direction or helping to enlist assistance from Oracle or third parties. If you have a serious Oracle on Windows requirement or would like to find out more, please contact me at grahamk@greymatter.com or call me direct on 01364 655129.
Regards,
Graham Keitch