I realize on-prem Oracle pre-dates the newer cloud solutions where the billing is done automatically - but is it true that to audit the use of an on-prem database Oracle had to poke around in the client's systems? How exactly does this work?
Oracle doesn't care about small companies, the main target is those large-scale companies, so it will be easy to determine whether the Oracle database is used. In addition, companies that want to list on Nasdaq must also purchase a license.