But to me, Oracle is the canonical example of getting nerds while they're young.

In university, I had access to Oracle databases, Oracle manuals, Oracle Linux, etc. Not through some special university approved lab set up - I could just go and download them. Even their acquired software like PeopleSoft etc.

I had NONE of that for DB2 or AIX, for example.

And their respective market share, I believe based on no evidence but strong belief, belies that strategy.

(disclaimer, I guess - I work for IBM, but ironically as an Oracle consultant... the early access really did work :-)

Any student can download and use Oracle DBs and most other products for free legally right from Oracle's sites. This suggests that even Oracle understands how important this pipeline is.