This is exactly why Oracle in the 90s and 00s starting buying up software Application companies (Peoplesoft, JD Edwards, Hyperion, etc).
And then in the old on-premise world, you sell them both the App and require the use of your database which is an additional sale.
This strategy doesn’t work in a Cloud world though. Since customers are no longer buying the individual components (like the database) but are instead just leasing the finished good. By definition, they don’t care what’s under the hood - unless you’re selling to another software company who’s using your database to make their finished good.
IIRC, Oracle managed to get a huge, well paying customer (DoD) behind their "we build a better database" pitch.
That provided enough funding, users and support to move into applications. In fact even if they didn't expand into other areas, that support could have kept them as a profitable DB company for decades.
Was this in their earliest days? Reminds me of what I read recently about IBM getting a significant contract from government, but even more importantly benefits of research, in early days of computing when they were actually behind. After that they got so far ahead they stayed the leader until the industry changed.
Ten years ago, when I still worked in consulting, all my clients (large institutional companies) used Oracle and they'd say they were willing to pay the premium because Oracle was 20% faster than everyone else.
And then in the old on-premise world, you sell them both the App and require the use of your database which is an additional sale.
This strategy doesn’t work in a Cloud world though. Since customers are no longer buying the individual components (like the database) but are instead just leasing the finished good. By definition, they don’t care what’s under the hood - unless you’re selling to another software company who’s using your database to make their finished good.