What will you use when forms is gone?

Question

Looks like forms is coming to end in a few years.
If you company is like mine and uses forms a lot (our ERP is all forms), you should be already think alternatives to it.
The big problem is that rewrite all the code is very, very expensive.
So I ask. Have you think about it?
Did you know what you going to do?
I was thinking about ADF and APEX. Wich one will be, for say, the "Forms Replacement"?
Does Oracle has a plan for customers like us?
In short, what is your opinion on this?

Answer 1

As Thomas mentioned, everything must come to an end eventually. However for Oracle Forms, my expectation is that it will remain supported for many more years. And I plan to be on the top of the list of cheerleaders to encourage Oracle to keep it going and improving it. I encourage anyone wanting to see this or any product continue on, to make your feedback known. It is often customer feedback that helps a company determine what direction they will go next with a particular product.
Making statements like "it's going away" or "it is dead" does nothing more than create unnecessary panic. This is especially true when you are just speculating. Or are you? What would make you say
"Looks like forms is coming to end in a few years"How do you know this? Did someone in Oracle tell you this - who? It cannot be denied that the product has not seen much in the way of significant gui enhancements over the passed few years, but that means nothing relative to its life. With each new release, new features are included and many bugs fixes compared to previous versions are included. Generally, making significant changes to this very mature and mostly stable product are avoided in order to ensure its stability. Decisions to include new features or enhancements are carefully reviewed. If a requested new feature is something that is overwhelmingly desired by the customer community and it will not put the stability of the product at risk, it will be considered. However, the most likely new features to be included would be those which permit Forms to better integrate with other Oracle products or technolgies. For example Oracle recently added OAM support.
So, again... I encourage anyone who may be developing new Forms applications, maintaining existing ones, or completing a long running project with Forms to make yourself known. Help Oracle to understand why you use and want Oracle Forms rather than some other product or technology. Is it cost, ease of use, ability to create applications quickly, your comfort zone, or something else. Talk to your account managers and sales reps and tell them your likes, dislikes, and wish lists.
The views expressed in this posting are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Oracle.
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