A post Friday on the Microsoft SQL Server News Blog takes the news that Oracle increased prices on some of its database management services by as much as 40 percent as an opportunity to point out that there have been no such price changes on the Microsoft side, on either products or services. And SQL Server 2008 has been receiving recent kudos specifically for making a broad array of business applications, such as master data management, available cost-effectively.

Forrester mentions details around Oracle pricing strategy in its report, "The Forrester Wave: Enterprise Database Management Systems, Q2 2009." While Oracle's prices cause concern among some customers, it says, large enterprises in particular enjoy deep discounts. And Forrester Analyst Ray Wang says in this InfoWorld piece that, based on his examination of the situation, by making those increases to list prices, Oracle may be "catering" to some of its largest customers, where procurement managers see a direct relationship between vendor licensing discounts and their own compensation.

For those not sure of the best time to strike, Dennis Byron advises, "any time is the right time" to ask for discounts -- and the economic downturn means that if you're not doing so, you're missing out on an exercise that your competitors are maximizing.

Also on Friday, a Financial Times piece on the reason behind Microsoft's disappointing quarterly numbers quotes Goldman Sachs software analyst Sarah Friar saying that the company is getting a strong grip on a changing marketplace where margins are thinning.

Since the Server and Tools division at Microsoft is still growing revenue at a healthy pace, it may be an especially good time for customers to make sure that they are getting the best possible deal.