Re:Oracle asks: teach my reps to lie (Score 1)

You are absolutely right that research is the key. I did spend about three months researching the various possibilities. I had a functional spec with weighted requirements. I went to trade shows, visited websites, and saw demo sites. My systems guy and I probably spent five hours validating our assumptions with the Oracle technical staff before I wrote the Big Check.

What I didn't count on was:

• Oracle sales reps and technical reps outright lying. For example, in response to questions about whether I could implement iStore with my then-current infrastructure & incredibly limited resources, they said "Yes, no problem!" How long will it take? "Turnkey! Created for the small-business customer!" Gosh, no wonder they were the leader in a set of eight serious contenders!
• Not realizing that the key to breaking through the vendor lies is to find at least two independent sources who have already done what you are trying to do.

One of my weaknesses here was to assume that Oracle did the sort of testing and validation before releasing a product that was SOP when I was a developer at IBM. Another one was to assume that, while Oracle might put a positive spin on everything, they wouldn't simply make things up.

Admittedly, it's an embarassing "ouch" to have made such a big and expensive mistake. I tell this tale with the hopes that it will help someone else. I had other dealing with Oracle later and found that this behavior was the rule rather than the exception.