As Published In September/October 2006

Observant readers—or more accurately, those readers who focus on details in Oracle Magazine that have nothing to do with the magazine's technical content and everything to do with the magazine itself—have no doubt noticed that the spine of Oracle Magazine this year carries the volume number XX. That does, in fact, mean that Oracle Magazine is now 20 years old, an event that carries some significance in the magazine world when one considers that nearly 60 percent of all magazines fail before reaching their first anniversary.* So happy anniversary, Oracle Magazine! And here's to 20 more information-filled years.

From Newsletter to Magazine

Oracle Magazine didn't emerge from a smoke-filled marketing meeting, fully formed and ready to serve readers, but rather evolved in 1987 from a quarterly company newsletter to a brief, 12-page printed magazine that contained Oracle product and company news. Those first magazines, published twice yearly, contained short customer profiles, Oracle company news, information about Oracle partners, and product updates.

The magazine evolved quickly in those early years—much as Oracle Corporation itself. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Oracle had become well known as an enterprise database and tools company; the magazine noted this reputation by dubbing itself the SQL Database Journal for several years. However, as the company's products and services rapidly expanded—moving beyond databases and development tools to include enterprise applications and industry-specific tools—the magazine dropped the tagline and called itself simply Oracle Magazine.

Focus on Customers

Oracle Magazine continued to change alongside Oracle itself, and by the early 1990s the magazine bore little resemblance to issues just a few years prior. The magazine grew in size, readership, and sophistication, focusing much of its content on how Oracle customers used Oracle technology in their own businesses. Much of that content was industry focused, demonstrating Oracle Corporation's knowledge in a variety of verticals. In addition, the magazine added new departments and categories for DBAs and developers.

Oracle Magazine also began to carry profiles of industry executives, such as HP's John Young, Sun Microsystems' Scott McNealy, and Amdahl's Jack Lewis, giving these leaders a chance to share their thoughts about technology and its impact on business with the growing audience of Oracle Magazine.

During this period, as the magazine began publishing quarterly, the staff changed and grew, with the first editor, Tom Hogan, passing the baton to editors Jon Bell and Julie Gibbs. Other editors included Leslie Steere and managing editor Kim Austin, as well as editor/writer Don Tyler, who had been with the magazine since its inception. Julia McVeigh also joined the staff. The magazine added professionals to handle design, production, and circulation, and for the first time ever, it was audited by a professional circulation management firm.

The Impact of the Internet

Although it had been in existence for nearly 30 years, the internet was finally poised in the mid 1990s to have enormous impact on business, commerce, and communication.

Technology companies, such as Oracle, were rapidly developing technologies and products that would take advantage of the unique reach and opportunities offered by the internet. Oracle Corporation blazed trails with Web development products, a Web server, and the first database with built-in internet functionality.

The internet and Web made their mark on Oracle Magazine as well. The magazine responded to the internet craze with thoughtful articles and guides to the new technologies. In addition to stories devoted to the rise and impact of the internet, Oracle Magazine created a mascot of sorts named the Web Master, whose mission was to patrol cyberspace, making it a safer place for companies to do business.

By 1996, Oracle Magazine was going electronic, with the first electronic version produced as a CD-ROM with a clever library interface. Subsequent versions appeared online and the magazine's online presence was dubbed Oracle Magazine Interactive, or OMI. OMI was an elementary predecessor of sorts to today's Oracle Technology Network (OTN), with additional technical content beyond what appeared in the print publication, online forums for readers to share and exchange information, and code tips from Oracle professionals. Editors Marsha Bazley and Margaret Lindquist joined the Oracle Magazine staff to manage the additional content and Web presence. Eventually, OMI would merge with OTN, a union that remains today.

Audience Segmentation

By the late 1990s, Oracle Corporation's products and services had become wide-ranging and diverse. Although still widely known for its flagship database, the company was no longer known as just a database company. Oracle Magazine evolved alongside the company once again, introducing new magazine sections for developers, system administrators, and business professionals. Eventually, Oracle Magazine would spin off much of the business and application content into a separate sister publication, Profit: The Business of Technology.

Oracle Magazine had almost reached its current form with a collection of columnists, technical articles, customer profiles, event information, and partner guides. During this period, the staff evolved as Kelli Wiseth, Patty Waddington, Blair Campbell, Claire Breen, Carol Tady, and I joined the editorial team.

Putting Forth Personalities

From book authors to user group leaders and third-party consultants, Oracle has never lacked its share of gurus and personalities, and over the years, Oracle Magazine provided many of those visionaries and technologists with a platform for communicating to the broader Oracle community. As the millennium came to a close, Oracle Magazine began featuring even more Oracle community members, and in some cases embarked on projects to help these specialists to expand their reach beyond the magazine itself.

First and foremost was columnist Tom Kyte, who began working with the magazine in 2000. Kyte, with Oracle's public sector organization, started consulting with the magazine to evaluate weekly code tip submissions for the magazine's Web site. An online Q&A forum soon followed and "Ask Tom" was born. The popularity of "Ask Tom" was instantaneous, and Kyte began receiving hundreds of questions each week. A more usable online interface was required, so Kyte quickly rebuilt the Ask Tom Web site using Oracle Application Express. Other columnists, including Cameron O'Rourke and Steven Feuerstein, soon followed with online community sites of their own, promoting information exchange between users and offering expert advice and commentary.

In addition, Oracle Magazine began its tradition of inviting Independent Oracle Users Group presidents to use the magazine as a forum: presidents Rich Niemiec, Kimberly Floss, and Ari Kaplan authored regular columns about database management, tuning, wireless, and other technical topics. Oracle Magazine also began the annual practice of honoring visionaries in the Oracle community with the Oracle Magazine Editors' Choice Awards.

With its increased focus on solid technical how-tos, Oracle Magazine required an increasingly tech-savvy staff, and during this period Tom Haunert, Justin Kestelyn, Kay Keppler, and Caroline Kvitka joined the editorial team.

Portal to the World of Oracle

As Oracle Corporation has continued to grow and evolve, so has Oracle Magazine. The magazine continues to hold a unique position in the world of magazines, reflecting both the interests and needs of its readers and the priorities of Oracle Corporation.

Today, each issue of Oracle Magazine reaches nearly 1 million readers* with a broad mix of technical content for developers, administrators, and DBAs; customer profiles; partner and vendor news; Oracle company news; event information; and opinion columns. The magazine is truly a portal to the world of Oracle.

As with all worthwhile endeavors of Oracle Magazine's scope, there are many thoughtful, dedicated people behind the scenes, planning, editing, and producing each issue of the magazine. You can learn more about these people, as well as past staff members, on our Web site.

And finally, thank you to the readers of Oracle Magazine, particularly those who provide feedback about the content of the magazine. The magazine is only worthwhile if it serves the needs of our readers, so please let us know what those needs are.

* Erdos & Morgan readership survey, September 2005