The End Of Richard Foote’s Oracle Blog (“Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide”)

The End Of Richard Foote’s Oracle Blog (“Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide”) July 20, 2023

Posted by Richard Foote in Richard Foote Art, Richard Foote Farewell.
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NOTE -THIS BLOG IS NO LONGER BEING MAINTAINED!!!

(Content may no longer be up to date or accurate with current versions of Oracle)

Of all my many Oracle blog posts, this particular post will remain with me the longest, for not only is it the last blog post I’ve done in a while, but it’s the last blog post I’ll ever do!!! (Yes, this statement is a complete ripoff of David Bowie’s famous 3rd July 1973 farewell speech, when he killed off his Ziggy Stardust character.)

I can distinctly remember a number of Oracle colleagues saying way back in 2007 when I first started blogging, why on earth am I focusing on Oracle Indexing, surely after a few months I’ll run out of ideas or new topics to discuss. I certainly had no idea or expectation that it would last so long or that it would garner over 2.75 million hits.

But after all these years and over 500 Oracle Database related articles, with most of them indeed discussing Oracle Indexing, the time has come to finally pull up stumps.

After retiring from Oracle training and consulting, and closing down my business earlier in the year, my initial plan had been to do a “Jonathan Lewis”, retire from work, but continue to keep my hand in and continue to blog and attend Oracle conferences for at least a while. But in the intervening months, I’ve found that all my other hobbies and interests have completely taken over all my time, and I now have neither the inclination nor motivation to do all the hard work that’s necessary to truly keep up with Oracle Database technology. This blog has never really been about just rehashing what’s already in the Oracle Documentation, but about trying to discover those not-so-obvious but useful details regarding how to effectively index an Oracle database and discussing in detail the reasons for all the many misperceptions regarding how Oracle indexes actually work, should be used, and should be maintained. But that requires time, lots of time – that I no longer have.

So it’s certainly with mixed feelings that I’ve decided to leave my life in the Oracle Database universe and explore other new and exciting things to do in life.

I would like to sincerely thank all of you, the readers of my blog, for all the wonderful feedback and insightful comments I’ve received over the years. You have ultimately been my source of inspiration and motivation for keeping this blog going for so many years. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone in the Oracle Database community that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting at so many conferences in so many different places all over the world. I’ve made so many friends and had so many great times, that it has really been a fabulous ride. I want to give a special shoutout to all my fellow members within the Oracle OakTable and the Oracle ACE Program for letting me be a part of such a distinguished group of Oracle professionals. Although I’ve had the honor of again being eligible to be an Oracle ACE Director for 2023-2024, I’ve decided to turn down the offer and move on.

I have had many many many highlights in my Oracle career, working with many amazing colleagues and addressing the complex performance problems of many Oracle databases. Since my first public presentation at the ACT Oracle User Group conference in 1997, some highlights include the infamous “Good DBA Bad DBA” presentation at Oracle OpenWorld in Brisbane in 1999, being one of the first 4 nominated AUSOUG Oracle Masters, and being given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the UKOUG, even though I had only attended the two UKOUG conferences at the time (yes, I took it as a positive and not a sign to stay away), but my main highlight was really just meeting so many wonderful people around the world.

As this blog is free to administer, I have no plans to take it down, although I might disable the ability to post comments at some point. So I’ll leave this site up as a lasting legacy of my time in the Oracle universe, with most of the content still highly relevant and still attracting many curious visitors each week.

One of the activities that takes up much of my time is my art, and with commissions now coming in, it is the perfect way to spend sunny days whilst listening to the music of David Bowie. You can keep track of me and my art work at richardfooteart.com. Here’s just a sample of my art:

I sincerely wish you all the very best for the future and happy Oracle indexing

Bye-bye.