We're using 10g Grid Control (Multiple targets, w/OMS). Also using it's scaled down brother 10g Database Control (Single server, single target)

Yes, it's different. Some like it, others don't. I think it's an improvement in most areas.

It's definately got room for improvement. 10g Grid Control uses 10g Application Server, which is actually 9.0.4, and it requires a 9i instance for it's repository .. go figure! To configure it, you'll need at least 4 ORACLE_HOME's.

1. 10g Grid Control Home - Essentially App Server and OMS
2. 10g Agent Home - Fairly small place for the agent executables
3. 9i Repository Home - We use 9.2.0.4 (direct install available now)
4. 10g Instances Home - Home for 10g instances to monitor, etc.

I'm hoping they have this fixed in the next release (June-04, according to Ken Jacobs).

In this version you can say goodbye to discovery, the agents take care of that task and it works perty good. I did have to go in and manually modify a targets.xml file on one install.

The out-of-the-box alerts are much smarter.

Support is getting better at supporting this stuff. It was like pulling teeth when it was first released.

If you've got any specific questions, please ask. I think it's good to get in at the ground level and get the potty-training over.