Yes, this is going to be a rant.

Today I attempted to deploy a Windows service to a server.  It failed.  When I started thinking about it, I realized that my service was trying to connect to an Oracle datasource.

Guess what?  Client connectivity components weren't installed.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with Oracle, here's the crux: In order to get your code working with Oracle (even when your connection string is correct), you must do the following:

• Install Oracle (xx)  Client on the system
• Configure your TNSNAMES.ORA
• Create a System DSN for the database

Voila!  That's it!  Presto!

Now compare that to SQL Server.

• Include a connection string in your App.config

Notice a difference here?

I used to think that Microsoft had the worst organized site of all the major companies, but they have been outdone by Oracle.  Go ahead.  Take a look around Oracle's website and try to find the Oracle10g Client download.  I dare you.  Tell me how long it takes. 

In case you need it for some reason, you can find it here.