Some function as "personal portals," collection spots for all sorts of information that matters to the computer user, such as local weather reports, a favorite sports team's schedule, local museum openings and CD releases.

Oracle also wants to provide personalized Web content from remote devices acting as portals, but is taking a different approach than MicroStrategy. Project Panama, which Oracle expects to make available in the fall, enables users to establish a personal portal on the Internet and then access that portal from almost any wireless device.

He calls this a system of "information highways" that will expand the frontiers of communication among computers, telephones, televisions, hand-held electronic "assistants" and other personal portals.