But to me, Oracle is the canonical example of getting nerds while they're young.

In university, I had access to Oracle databases, Oracle manuals, Oracle Linux, etc. Not through some special university approved lab set up - I could just go and download them. Even their acquired software like PeopleSoft etc.

I had NONE of that for DB2 or AIX, for example.

And their respective market share, I believe based on no evidence but strong belief, belies that strategy.

(disclaimer, I guess - I work for IBM, but ironically as an Oracle consultant... the early access really did work :-)

Many people have talked about this...

People do know that oracle has ALOT more software then their DB right?

I mean their DB is the least vendor lockin thing they sell.....

Yes, as I said, I spent much of my life around oracle products. Most are freely downloadable for non production purposes.

Any student can download and use Oracle DBs and most other products for free legally right from Oracle's sites. This suggests that even Oracle understands how important this pipeline is.