Microsoft bitchslaps Oracle over 11g pricing

Says SQL Server 2008 'loves you long time'

Microsoft has taken a swipe at Oracle's recent decision to jack up prices on some of its products.

Redmond also took the opportunity to remind customers that it hadn't raised the cost of its Oracle 11g database rival - SQL Server 2008.

All of which will leave Microsoft, which last week suffered some serious money troubles of its own, hoping that such a bold statement won't bite it on the bum at some later date.

"Microsoft has not raised prices on SQL Server 2008 – not on the core database, not on options," wrote someone going by the name of sunnyjc on the firm's Data Platform Insider blog last Friday.

"We are committed to providing an enterprise-class data management and business intelligence platform at the lowest total cost of ownership for our customers. SQL Server 2008 Enterprise is available to help you manage your data at around one-third the cost of a similar solution from Oracle," he/she opined.

Oracle's price list was amended on 1 July. Some management options for the vendor's flagship database were hiked 40 per cent.

Meanwhile, Microsoft just last week coughed to its second year-on-year decline in quarterly revenue, more than double the size of the first crash it reported this spring.

Revenue for the whole company fell by 17 per cent to $13bn for the three months ended 30 June, compared to a six per cent drop of $13.65bn reported in April.

Q4 income declined 29 per cent to $3bn, and earnings per share were down 12 cents to $0.34.

However, Redmond's star pupil - the server and tools division, which includes Microsoft's SQL database - actually saw revenue grow 7.8 per cent over the previous year.

Which perhaps explains why the company can, sortof, afford to have a dig at Oracle over pricing. ®