This has got to be one of the funniest oracle-related threads [http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&threadm=3F29A3ED.C556674E%40exxesolutions.com&rnum=1&prev=/groups%3Fq%3Dnewbie%2Bcannot%2Blogin%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%

I'm in the process of taking my Oracle 9i Database Oracle Certified Professional [http://www.oracle.com/education/certification/index.html?dba9i_ocp.html] exams, and this afternoon passed the third of the exams, Oracle 9i Database : Performance Tuning [http://www.oracle.com/education/certification/objectives/index.html?

Brian Duff breaks the news [http://radio.weblogs.com/0128037/2003/08/13.html] that Oracle Jdeveloper 9.0.5 is now going to be know as Oracle Jdeveloper 10G. It’s been his task [http://radio.weblogs.com/0128037/2003/08/13.html] to search-and-replace all instances of 9.

This weekend was the hottest on record in the UK [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3138865.stm], and like most people in Brighton, I spent part of the weekend down at the beach. Here's a few photos [http://www.rittman.net/stories/2003/08/10/

Brian Duff, another one of the Oracle JDeveloper team, has started up a weblog [http://radio.weblogs.com/0128037/] on JDeveloper [http://otn.oracle.com/products/jdev], SCM [http://otn.oracle.com/products/repository/content.html] and user interfaces. Brian works with Steve Muench [http://radio.weblogs.com/0118231/] and

I've had two papers accepted for the forthcoming UK Oracle User Group Conference & Exhibition [http://conference.ukoug.org/], at the ICC in Birmingham in December. The first paper is entitled "Oracle 9i OLAP Uncovered" and the presentation is at 10.45 on December 10th. The

There's a good article over at Oraclebase about putting together efficient SQL statements [http://www.oracle-base.com/Articles/Misc/EfficientSQLStatements.asp] . It's easy these days to forget about the basics like these; the way in which you list tables, use aliases, and use comparisons like EXISTS

eWeek [http://www.eweek.com/] has details of the next version of Enterprise Manager [http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,1054957,00.asp], due to be delivered as part of Oracle Application Server 10G. Highlights include: * Single view of all enterprise databases * Dynamic HTML interface * Patch tracking for individual

Oracle are going to start supporting PHP [http://www.php.net], the number one web scripting language [http://www.php.net/usage.php], with Oracle Application Server, according to this new PHP Statement of Direction [http://otn.oracle.com/tech/opensource/php/php_ohs_sod.html] just released on OTN.

This poster on OTN [http://www.oracle.com/forums/thread.jsp?forum=57&thread=192013&tstart=0&trange=15] asks whether future versions of OWB will support Oracle Streams [http://technet.oracle.com/products/dataint/htdocs/streams_fo.html]. Previously known as Change Data Capture, Streams captures

An interesting issue has cropped up with us, with a client who wishes to use OWB9.0.4 and now 9.2 on a Compaq Tru-64 platform. Previous versions of OWB were installed firstly on a client PC (usually a Windows PC), with the user then running wizards to create

Mark Van De Wiel at Oracle has pointed out a new viewlet demo [http://otn.oracle.com/products/warehouse/htdocs/OLAP_viewlet_swf.html] of the OLAP functionality in OWB9.2. It uses an early version of the upcoming 9.2.0.4 database patch (a.k.a. the 9.

Ronan Miles, UK Oracle User Group [http://www.ukoug.co.uk/] Chairman, on Oracle 10G: "I think grid computing will do for the computer what disk farms have done for disks" "Once, we were in awe of one disk and now it's a resource in

One of the new features that's expected to be included in Oracle 10G is HTML DB, a new rapid application development environment for Oracle web-based applications. Previously known as Project Marvel, details of what is now called HTML DB are available at the Project beta website [http://marvel.

With Oracle 10G dropping the rules-based optimizer [http://www.pro-dba.com/oracle_10i.html], there's a timely technical article on OTN about the Cost-Based Optimizer [http://otn.oracle.com/oramag/webcolumns/2003/techarticles/burleson_cbo_pt1.html] . Up until now, the query optimizer in the Oracle server could

I'm off on the last of my OCP courses next week, over at Oracle Eastpoint in Dublin. There won't be much time for blogging during the week, as I plan to spend every spare moment studying so that I can take the exam a week later.

The Business Intelligence software market shake-up continues: Hyperion are looking to buy Brio. [http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/53/31977.html] Significantly, this will give Hyperion a presence in the relational reporting market, whilst giving Brio a bit of breathing space after their ill-conceived purchase of Sqribe Technologies in

If you're using Oracle Reports delivered as either a JSP or through the Reports Servlet, and you're getting the error "REP-56055: Exceed max connections allowed: 20", you need to increase the maxConnect value in the reports configuration file to a higher value. 1. Find

The next version of Oracle will be called Oracle 10G, with the 'G' standing for Grid Computing [http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/waldrop0502.asp]. Oracle 10G is due to be formally launched [http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,1190433,00.asp] at Oracleworld in September, but details

There's a free offer currently on at OTN's Linux Technology Centre [http://otn.oracle.com/tech/linux/content.html] where you can download a full, developer copy of United Linux [http://www.unitedlinux.com] for free. United Linux is a joint effort between SuSE, Connectiva, SCO

I had a pleasant suprise this morning when I received an email from Guy Mortenson, who I used to work with at Plus for a while. Guy's since gone on to bigger and better things, working as a Solutions Engineer at egg.com [www.egg.com], and in

Business Objects [http://www.businessobjects.com/] has agreed to buy Crystal Decisions [http://www.crystaldecisions.com/] in a deal valued at $820 million [http://news.com.com/2100-1012-1027587.html]. Crystal Decisions were on the verge of an IPO [http://www.cbronline.com/current-issue/a28197af3fcf0b2c80256d320018c22e] and their revenue grew by a

Oracle have made available a free online training course on Oracle 9iAS release 2. Called  'Oracle 9iAS 9.0.2 By Example [http://otn.oracle.com/products/oracle9i/htdocs/9iober2/obe9iasr2/player_otn.htm] ', it takes you through setting up the 9iAS server, deploying J2EE applications, building and

There's a thread going on at OTN about JDeveloper 9.0.5 and when will it be available [http://www.oracle.com/forums/thread.jsp?forum=83&thread=189290]. It's mostly the usual 'we've been waiting for it for some time now

"What are the advantages of star schemas over other design patterns? From a performance point of view, why are star schemas is better than snowflakes?" asks a recent poster [http://www.oracle.com/forums/thread.jsp?nav=false&forum=57&thread=180583&start=0&