“The new Web service, free for some levels of disk storage
space, will launch in several months, Ellison said during Oracle’s
iDevelop users conference here today at company headquarters. The
announcement came as Ellison touted the company’s new Internet File
System, software that stores and manages 150 types of content,
including audio, video, email and Microsoft Word and Excel
documents. “
“The new technology is a key piece in Oracle’s Internet-focused
8i database Software-as well as part of the company’s goal to make
the Windows operating system unnecessary. … Oracle is
positioning the Internet File System as a replacement to the
Windows File System built into Microsoft’s operating system. The
product essentially moves data storage from a PC’s hard drive to
back-end servers on a network. “I think it’s an enormous
threat. It dramatically decreases the value of Windows,” Ellison
said.”
“During his speech, Ellison said a file system built into a
database will offer better and faster search capabilities than
standard operating systems, the ability to find content with any
device that has a Web browser, better security from virus attacks
and protection from computer crashes. … Companies, he said, “have
to decide where to keep data.” Will they use “big IFS (Internet
File System) servers or 175,000 desktops? You get yourself into
lots of trouble if you start fragmenting information. It’s like
having thousands of file cabinets in different cities.”