salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff is showing no early signs of backing off from the challenge of competing with Oracle head-to-head in the CRM marketplace. Benioff, a former Oracle executive, commented earlier in the week about the Oracle-Siebel acquisition. Here is his latest memo to employees on this topic:

"Oracle's Lucky Seven CRM Applications - Which One Is For You? Or, perhaps, none at all?

Now that Oracle has bought Siebel, Oracle now has seven different CRM offerings:

1. Oracle CRM On Premise

2. Oracle Sales On Line On Demand

3. Oracle JD Edwards Youcentric On Premise

4. Oracle Peoplesoft Vantive On Premise

5. Oracle Siebel On Premise

6. Oracle Siebel On Demand

7. Oracle Siebel Upshot On Demand

Which CRM Product will Oracle continue? Which CRM Product will Oracle kill?

Will Oracle continue Siebel CRM On Demand continue since it is written on DB2 and WebSphere? No way.

So, will the real Oracle CRM please stand up? And, when?

Customers making an Oracle/Siebel decision today, On Premise or On Demand, should consider that Oracle's strategy is unknown. Even to Oracle!

What will happen with all this code in these seven different offerings? Which product will move forward? Which product should customers bet on?

There is no way Oracle will maintain, promote, and develop seven CRM offerings ranging from On Demand to On Premise. What should you do?

The answer is simple: salesforce.com. Only salesforce.com has one solution entirely focused on customer success!

Aloha,
Marc"