The examples discussed in this book assume that you will be using the Oracle Discoverer tools, Oracle Reports Services, and Oracle Spreadsheet Add-In. Therefore, to follow the book's examples, you need to have the Oracle Business Intelligence suite as well as the Oracle Business Intelligence Tools suite installed on your computer. These products are part of Oracle Application Server 10g Release 2. Alternatively, you might use the Portal, Forms, Reports, and Discoverer suite, which is part of Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g R1. Whatever option you choose, though, you must also have access to an Oracle database 10g or 11g.

Like many Oracle products, all the earlier software can be obtained from the Oracle Technology Network (OTN) website and used for free under a development license, which allows for unlimited evaluation time. Later, if required, you can always buy products with full-use licenses.

Most Oracle products, including those that are mentioned earlier (and which you need to have installed to follow the sample code) are available for all major operating system platforms. Therefore you may be a Windows, Linux, or Solaris user, and still be able to install this software. For more details, refer to the appropriate document describing all the available platforms for individual products. You can find a link to such a document on each product's download page.