Removal of PUBLIC permissions on system objects

Question

The database standards specify that all PUBLIC permissions need to be removed and replaced by roles, groups or similar methods.
The DBA's are now crying foul and saying that Oracle won't run without a slew of PUBLIC permissions?
Is this correct or is it just push-back?

Answer 1

http://download-uk.oracle.com/docs/cd/B10501_01/server.920/a96521/privs.htm#15505
revoking privilege from public :
Revoking a privilege from PUBLIC can cause significant cascading effects. If any privilege related to a DML operation is revoked from PUBLIC (for example, SELECT ANY TABLE
apparently some developers prefer to have SELECT ANY TABLE granted to PUBLIC instead of appropriate table privilege granted to a role. This is sad.
I would not accept as a dba to be responsible for a database where PUBLIC has SELECT ANY TABLE, this is the worst possible example.
On the other hand, Oracle recommends removing out-of-the-box sensible privilege from public, like EXECUTE on UTL_FILE, to enhance security.
Revoking everything from PUBLIC to comply to your teletubbies (take care, sound) standards is somehow not appropriate
Nice doc from Arup, very worth reading, thanks Nicolas for the link