Hi,

What do you think will be the impact of our unwanted Baan by the offer of Oracle to PeopleSoft to JDEdwards ?

Also dont do think we all left behind and alone?

Dont you think Baan will die (already dead?) very soon ?

Hi baanlegend

What do you mean? Could you explain a bit better?

Regards,
Nico

... and peoplesoft already told it is buying J.D.Edwards.

Please follow the link from Reuters.

http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/030606/tech_peoplesoft_oracle_1.html

Three leading ERP giants (Oracle, Peoplesoft and JDEdawards) are going to the World No 2 software company, Oracle.

It is a big threat to SAP and all other ERPs

I worked on Baan implementations for many years as a functional/technical consultant but left the ERP field in the late 90's to do other things. I still peruse these boards occasionally just to see what's going on and I have to say that it still doesn't look very good for Baan.

I just wonder why PeopleSoft didn't try to buy Baan. They could have gotten it for next to nothing compared to what they're paying for J.D. Edwards. And now Oracle is in a hostile takeover of PeopleSoft. Why didn't Oracle buy Baan? Baan would have probably been a better fit technically for Oracle since PeopleSoft is really enbedded with Microsofts server/db architecture.

I think Baan is a pretty good system overall (no ERP systems are perfect) and I have a lot of friends still in the Baan world as either users or employees. But I just think that the future is pretty bleak for Baan since 2 of the largest players passed on the opportunity to buy it for bargain basement prices.

Those that already have Baan installed will be like all of us with old vinyl LP's. The vinyl records still play but they can't compete with the new stuff and don't expect the market to go backwards to fit your needs. Because of it's large install base Baan won't go away for several years, but it would really be a dead-end for anyone trying to further a career.

Oh well, I wish all of you the best but it never hurts to have other options should things go bad.

Already we know how bad the opportunities in Baan. Just checked monster.com. Nationwide fir the last one month there are only 4 jobs both functional & technical together. So this is not good for people who are in search.

It may be a good idea for others who are currently working in Baan to start learning something else to be in safer side

This is just my opion, but this may not all be bad for Baan...?
Think back when Baan exploded. The only other alternatives were SAP and Oracle. Both were more expensive, with much longer implementation times.
Baan broke into the scene by having lower costs, shorter implementation times, and the 'ease' of customizations (as compared with SAP, believe me, it is easy in Baan). They hit the mid market the strongest.
Peoplesoft and JD Edwards, I feel, played in Baan's space. With Oracle sucking them up, don't you think there is room for a 3rd package, a lower cost, more flexible solution? I think Baan has to remember it's roots, and make sure they are lower cost and more flexible, and they should be able to reclaim that space. Whether they are committed or able to still do this remains to be seen. SSA seems committed to a future product, so hopefully we won't be spinning vinyl! Maybe betamax would be a better comparison. It is a better product :)

http://www.whomovedmycheese.com/change/articleDetails.asp?article=24

Oracle Offers to Buy PeopleSoft for $5.1 Billion

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/business/business-tech-peoplesoft-oracle.html?ex=1056168000&en=bfaae8d9066f31e8&ei=5004&partner=UNTD

One broker, WR Hambrecht, quickly downgraded PeopleSoft's newly-inflated stock to ``sell'' from ``hold,'' saying it thinks the board will reject the bid, use its poison pill to block Oracle's offer and be unable to find a ``white knight'' with a higher bid.

``There is a small chance that Oracle could boost its offer price on Monday to a level acceptable to PeopleSoft,'' the analysts said in a research note.

Oracle is the world's largest maker of database software that companies use to store and organize business data. But it has struggled to make a name for itself in the software used for human resources, manufacturing and other functions.

Acquiring PeopleSoft would strengthen Oracle's position to take on the global leader in business software applications, Germany's resurgent SAP AG (SAP.DE).

Oracle said it plans to stop selling PeopleSoft products if the deal is completed and convert the users to Oracle products.


Well, I tend to support Lisa for her optimistic attitude and BaaN is surely the best in Manufacturing. BaaN needs to overcome the management/sales, viability issues, and I look forward to see Gemini release.

So lets hope for the best...!!! :p

Now the only thing Microsoft Business Solutions has to do is to take over....Oracle!
Then Bill Gates is just where he wants to be...the largest competitor of SAP.

Regards,

Edwin

As I see it the acquisition by SSA-GT is perhaps the only chance that Baan software has of surviving. If the Baan software does in fact survive it will be good for all those companies who have made what amount to fairly large investments in implementation and ongoing licence fees. It will also be good for all those of us who have great affection and respect for the system.

I think SSA-GT needs software such as Baan regain the market that the once "owned". My impression is that SSA made the mistake of just moving their BPCS product along with IBM's progression from System34/36/38 to AS400. I think it was probably very easy for users to migrate from one version to the next as they upgraded their hardware but when the market saw the massive reduction in hardware cost that was possible with unix based systems, SSA just wasn't in the race. Baan provides them with a suberb product, strong in the areas that BPCS was, to address all hardware platforms with the one product.

If indeed SSA-GT have in mind to use the Baan software as a basis of their offering then I think they have made a brilliant strategic acquisition. For SSA to be sucessful and for the basic Baan software to survive, I think SSA has to strip the intelectual property, the product development people and a trimed down product-support operation out of the company and dispose of the Administration, Sales and General Management infrastructures as quickly as possible.

However, if we are to believe the utterings from Baan in the past couple of days, I am afraid my positive view of the future may be entirely incorrect. I was involved in a teleconference with Baan and its customers earlier this week, where a Baan vice president lead me to understand that Baan would more or less continue operate indepenently/automonoudly and that the acquistion will provide the financial backing needed.

It will certainly be interesting to see what does in fact transpire. My hunch is that we will either see the radical changes that I think are needed, happen very quickly or Baan will just whiter away. The ERP software will stay installed in many customers for some time to come. Many of them will stop paying licence fees and eventually they will upgrade to a new generation of system from those companies who prove to the fitest-of-the-species.

I don't see that merger of PeopleSoft and JDE or the offer by Oracle will necessarily impact Baan/SSA-GT.

I guess the PeopleSoft/JDE move was to get a market base to compete with SSA. As to why Oracle want's to be in this market I can't work out.

Oracle have the RollsRoyce of RDBMS's. They have all sorts of other packages including ERP. I have specific knowlledge of the Financials which has a fairly large installed base and it does not strike me as being anywhere near the 'class' of their RDBMS.

If Oracle want to invest in ERP for future returns that is one thing. To do so I think they would be better off if they could separate Brand Identification of the businesses. Have Oracle mean database and some other identity mean investments (eg:XYZ Investment Inc). The ERP suppliers all need RDBMS and may not be pleased that they need to use a competitors product.

As to relative sizes of the companies. I don't think size necessarily counts. Oracle RDBMS, Bill Gates' DOS, BPCS, PRMS and IBM IMP/IPICS (and ithe initial Baan/Triton/Miricle) where all developed initially with a handfull of people. IBM OS360 on the other hand is relatively small and took a cast of thousands to develop.

I think it is possible for Baan software to be further developed by a somewhat smaller group than SAP or the merged PeopleSoft/JDE development groups. What I think is required to prosper is firstly a good product (including support) and secondly a good Marketing Structure that has the respect of Customers.

Baan problems probably stem from the fact that they were good programmers but not so good (hopeless even) managers/ marketeers. They did well when they were small, had a lucky sale to Boeing that gave them false confidence and led then to think they had made the big league. In the end they had a world-wide structure that couldn't be sustained. Despite numerous prunings over the past 3 or 4 years the structure appears to still be more or less in place.

I think the future is bright for Baan software. SSA-GT already have MK/ManMan/x which is the Baan software before it was renamed Baan from Triton. They can either use the current and next version of Baan and market it a MK or drop MK and market as Baan. Let hope SSA do know what they are doing and hope that they have slick hatchet-men crossing the Atlantic and Pacific right now.