The Oracle Corporation (NYSE: ORCL) has been a giant in the software business for a long time. It's become known for its strong-arm tactics to close sales and secure new business. This seems to have been a successful strategy, sadly, though they have gotten in trouble for it more than once.
On many occasions, Oracle software would automatically install additional software products that customers did not have the proper license arrangement to use, leading to a violation of the license agreement with Oracle, and allowing Oracle to bill the organization in question for the violation. This is due in part to Oracle's licensing being notoriously confusing and difficult to understand and manage.
For a time, and perhaps still, Oracle coached its account managers to use a strategy called ABC: Audit, Bargain, Close. First, a representative from the company approaches a business to ask what Oracle products they may be using in their environment. They do this under the guise of "support" and casually gather as much information as possible. This is the Audit phase.
Next, they'll gather up the information and identify license agreement violations in how software is installed or used. These are often easy to find, as their software is not programmed well enough to avoid certain automatic license violations for lower-paying or non-paying users, and those users may not even be aware of this because the license agreement was so complex and difficult to understand. Once a license violation is found, it is used to coerce the business customer with threats of higher fees and penalties, or back-fees for supposed improper use of software, unless an unnecessary or unwanted cloud subscription is purchased. This is the Bargain phase. These subscriptions are often short-term and useless to the customers.
Oracle has victimized many sizeable businesses with these predatory sales practices, including Mars, Inc. (the M&Ms people), Specsavers (glasses, hearing aids, and contact lenses stores), and the City of Denver, CO. They were sued for it not too long ago, so they're now more up front about why they're cold-contacting businesses ("Java is no longer free, so when are you available to chat?") but they have not stopped the predatory practices.
Shame on Oracle. Ignore their emails, and avoid their products like the plague.
~[MD]