OCM take 2

I was very glad to hear that my OCM was rescheduled. I am finding it much easier to practice now that I know exactly what is going on. Ironically, I decided to wipe out my test Oracle installation and, lo and behold, you can no longer download Oracle 9.2.0.1 (and patch to 9.2.0.2). I tried download 9.2.0.4 but the agent is broken for Redhat Linux AS 4. That sucks. I found several helpful links from Google, but not quite the silver bullet.

Which brings me to another point. Why does Oracle

1. use such an outdated version of the rdbms (one that is buggy to boot)?
2. not provide the necessary software for downloading?
3. in general, why is support for Linux so shoddy?

The last one is a prickling one - see my other post about Oracle Linux Support.

But, just in case you were getting the idea that I was being critical and unappreciative, let me make it very clear that I am very happy and very excited to take another stab at the OCM. I have been practicing a few times over the break, and continue to do so. Should be good. What happens if there is another "technical difficulty"? *grin*

In closing, I am very curious what the 10g OCM is like. Our proctor, Jay Norton, had a primary role in writing and creating the 10g OCM, and he said it was even more difficult than the 9i practicum. Does Oracle Education offer a fee waiver or subsidy upgrade OCMs? =)