Hello from Oracle’s 2009 user conference, OpenWorld. This week I aim to bring you an insane amount of coverage from the conference. I’m flying solo this year, — Managing Editor Josh Weinberger is crushed he couldn’t make it this year — but you can bet I’ll be Twittering my thumbs off on the @destinationCRM channel. In fact, I already had a Twitterer unfollow me yesterday, saying my keynote coverage was clogging up his Twitter stream. You can’t please everyone, I guess.

Yesterday evening (SUNday) Scott McNealy took the stage to “illuminate” details surrounding Oracle’s acquisition of Sun Microsystems. The moral of the story? Oracle plans to compete head on in the hardware and storage space by investing more in SPARC and Solaris. Oracle Cofounder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer Larry Ellison’s competitive edge was glaringly apparent during his keynote address. Ellison laughed as he slammed IBM’s computing speed and storage capabilities.  Just two weeks ago, Oracle was fined $10,000 for a Wall Street Journal ad claiming performance that had not been benchmarked.

“I knew we were better,” Ellison said, laughing again, before promising that the performance claim will be benchmarked and re-run in another WSJ ad this week.

This morning’s keynote promises even more pizazz as Oracle’s Charles Phillips and HP’s Ann Livermore take the stage to address technology megatrends. Attendees are buzzing through Moscone wondering if any “surprise guests” will join Oracle executives on stage. Last year’s appearance by Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps caused quite the stir.

Word is that 37,000 people are registered for this year’s event. With Aerosmith performing on Wednesday night and myriad events taking place throughout downtown San Francisco, it’s sure to be a good week. Be sure to tune into destinationCRM.com for news stories on the keynotes and the @destinationCRM Twitter feed for up-to-the-minute coverage.

[UPDATE, Oct. 14, 2009, 5.30p ET: News stories are now available here (Day 2), and here (Day 3).]