The Future of Forms: 15 May, Utrecht
Come to Utrecht, Netherlands for this fantastic Forms seminar on 15 May 2012 organised by Oracle Gold Partner Amis. We will be presenting YoForms / YoDeveloper with live / interactive demo. Attendance is free of charge. See full information and registration details for the all-day event, and for the evening session. There is also a printable Event Programme (.pdf file).
See also the story on our Snippets page.
"A bright future for your legacy applications!"
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Snippets
A place for us to share with you our thoughts, views, news and information ... Articles by Oliver Tickell unless otherwise stated.
Amis Forms seminar27 April 2012
We're gearing up now for the Amis Forms seminar in Utrecht on 15 May where Don and I will present YoForms / YoDeveloper complete with a live and interactive demo - so delegates can actually use YoForms on their laptop or mobile phone via a wifi connection. So far it's looking good - anyone would struggle to tell the difference in appearance between YoForms and Forms 6i / 10g. Our current focus is on the presentation layer in the browser itself so our application doesn't just look right, it also acts right. That means implementing difficult stuff like dragging and dropping windows, tiling, stacking, iconising, stretching and shrinking, scroll bars popping up and disappearing on cue - and all without flicker, jumps, and other oddities. Because this is way beyond anything that browsers were ever actually designed for, none of it is easy. And then stuff that works beautifully on Chrome and Firefox can throw up odd bugs on Explorer. We have found ways around all the problems - so far. Will we have it all rock-steady in 2 weeks time? You bet we will!
Our verdict: The first serious test of YoForms, unleashed on a critical audience likely to give the system a serious hammering.
Our prediction: Delegates will be amazed.
What this means for us: If YoForms can get through this test unscathed, word will quickly spread across the Oracle / Forms that here is some very serious software, and it's coming soon!
Too good to miss!20 March 2012
Now guess who said this:
"Can you imagine buying a car from the IT industry? You'd get a muffler dropped off in your driveway. Someone else would drop off a set of seats. Another person would bring the pistons. Then you'd hire a systems integrator to come put it all together. At some point you'd have a car in your driveway, but then they'd say, 'Well, you can't really drive it on the weekends because we've got a batch upload that happens then.' In the IT industry, someone sells you a server, someone else sells you a storage array, we give you some software, and you get other software from someone else. Then you have to put it all together and make it work. And by the way, when something is broken, you figure it out."
Answer: Oracle President Mark Hurd, interviewed by Aaron Lazenby in Oracle Magazine, March / April 2012.
Our verdict: So true.
Our prediction: It's not going to improve any time soon, despite Oracle's best efforts.
What this means for us: Small, well-designed IT systems are usually superior to huge general purpose systems that solve the problems in existing software by adding layers upon layers of new code, creating bloat, complexity and widespread dependencies. That's why YoForms, YoReports and YoDeveloper are designed to be easy to install and configure, to run on any J2EE application server, and are engineered to do their specific job very efficiently with a small resource footprint.
NoSQL - what next? 16 March 2012
At first we were thrown by Oracle's new 'NoSQL' database. If you don't talk to your database in SQL, then what language do you use? But here's the first thing to know about NoSQL: the 'No' means 'not only'.
The next thing to know is that NoSQL databases have been around since 1998 when Carlo Strozzi coined the term. Major websites with vast amounts of data to handle are already based on NoSQL databases: among them Amazon, Twitter, Facebook and Linked-in. So what's the advantage? Basically, NoSQL architectures support 'big data':
- high volumes of data capture from multiple data input points, with low processing overhead;
- highly scalable, highly distributed 'horizontal' data storage over multiple servers in a variety of locations;
- rapid response times for simple database queries and appends;
- heavy read / write workloads.
But most NoSQL implementations come with some big no-no's:
- no table joins, hence no complex queries;
- no support for ACID transactions - that is, no guarantee that transactions are 'atomic, consistent, isolated, complete' before they are committed to the database;
- non-relational architecture, based on key-value pairs.
So what's different about Oracle NoSQL? It sets out to:
- capture the general advantage set of NoSQL databases;
- provide general purpose NoSQL capabilities;
- maintain key database capabilities, in particular support for ACID transactions.
More information from Oracle at: oracle.com/us/products/database/nosql/
Our verdict: A bold move by Oracle, and a necessary one given the increasing need for databases that can acquire, transact and query big data.
Our prediction: Oracle will become a dominant player in the NoSQL market.
What this means for us: right now, not much - most Forms applications are strongly bound to Oracle database, using complex multi-table joins that are not supported in a NoSQL architecture, and PL/SQL to drive core business functions. But we should consider supporting Oracle NoSQL in future YoForms / YoReports releases to enable the development of big data applications.
Oracle Public Cloud - we want it!10 February 2012
Oracle is looking very excited about its Public Cloud offering. Put simply, it's a way for Oracle to deliver its software on demand over the Internet. So customers no longer need their own hardware, data centers, IT operations staff, etc, but just do it all remotely with Oracle.
Great idea - and an excellent way for Forms users to get their applications deployed using YoForms: as far as the Cloud is concerned, Yoforms + Forms app should just be another Java / Database application. So we're keen to get our account set up and find out how it all works ... but it looks like we will have to wait, as the signup screen warns:
"When you submit this form, your information will be placed into a queue for access to controlled availability services. We will be provisioning Java and Database services in batches over the next several months. Our Fusion Application services will be made available shortly after that. You will be notified by email when your instance is ready."
Our verdict: Well worth waiting for.
Our prediction: They will get it sorted out. For a lot of small and medium sized organizations, this could be the ideal solution to IT provisioning.
What this means for us: YoForms / YoReports / YoDeveloper running on Oracle Public Cloud could be the perfect environment to deploy Oracle applications to the Internet - fast, secure, resilient and scaleable.
Oracle Database XE 11g - wow! 7 January 2012
Oracle's latest version of it's free database allows a massive 11GB of user data! Now that is a lot, and a huge increase on the 4GB maximum under XE 10g. More information from Oracle.
So what's behind the move? Oracle is already in the 'free database' market now that it owns MySQL, and as MySQL users want to move to a more serious - but still free - database, it wants them to stay in the Oracle family. XE 11g makes that choice even more attractive. It also gives small businesses a good reason to choose Oracle database rather than start paying for, say, MS SQL Server.
Oracle is also calculating that few if any Enterprise Database users are going to risk downgrading to XE: all it takes is for one small but important feature not to work and the whole exercise is futile.
And once users lock into XE, they are sure to stay with Oracle for the long haul.
Our verdict: Smart move, Oracle!
Our prediction: Expect XE release 12 to provide 12 GB - or more.
What this means for us: All the more reason to develop Forms applications running on Oracle XE, for true internet deployment under YoForms, our lightweight, enterprise class Forms environment.
And the future of Forms is ... Forms!10 December 2011
A welcome shift in the mood music at the UKOUG Conference 2011. The future of Forms is no longer SOA, ADF or APEX, but Forms. Deep sighs of relief from Forms users. At last Oracle has accepted that Forms is a permanent feature of the Oracle landscape - most Forms users have no wish (or budget) to rewrite their tried and tested Forms applications to other technologies.
Not that Oracle has any plans to improve or extend Forms itself, nor Reports. Oracle does point out that with Forms running on WebLogic, users will get all the benefits that go with that. Fair enough - but most Forms users want more, and better. True internet deployment to mobiles / cellphones would be a good start!
Our verdict: A welcome recognition of reality.
Our prediction: Forms will still be with us for a long time to come. It's just too good, and too widely used, to dump. No matter how much Oracle would like to.
What this means for us: All the more reason for Forms users to stick with their tried and tested Forms applications for now - and look to re-deploy under YoForms Release 1 in 2012!