Oracle’s new ‘express’ ADF version may be exactly what the Forms community has been waiting for: The core ADF functionality in a license-free package and deployable on a license-free server
Oracle has released a new version of ADF, freely downloadable and deployable on the open-source GlassFish 3.1 server: ADF Essentials. The ADF community has been waiting for this step for a long time. But what about the Forms and open-source Java communities? Will we see a massive migration of developers and applications to ADF Essentials?
For start, let us see what’s inside: ADF Essentials comes packed with Oracle ADF Faces Rich Client Components, Oracle ADF Controller, Oracle ADF Bindings and Oracle ADF Business Components. It all seems to be exactly what we need to design web applications on top of an Oracle database, for instance. Knowing Oracle we just might ask ourselves: where is the catch? Well, there might be no catch: Oracle needs the developer community as much as the developer community needs an ‘express’ ADF version in order to really adopt the technology. It is a win-win and we have waited for it for some time. OK, there are a set of functionalities you do not get for free, such as Oracle ADF Mobile, Oracle ADF Desktop Integration or Oracle ADF Security. But for the Java developers the pain is not so bad: such functionalities can simply continue to be designed using regular Java EE.
What about Oracle Forms? It is unlikely that companies will start to massively migrate all their Forms systems to ADF. But for some of the companies with legacy Forms applications, the new ADF Essentials will surely be the long-awaited solution. One reason for this can be seen in our daily discussions with PITSS customers: it is more and more difficult to find Forms developers. Despite the long history and proven strengths of Forms, the Forms community is decreasing, forcing companies to take decisions sooner or later. And, when searching for the alternatives, the licensing cost will always be a factor. As ADF now offers an easy entry point through ADF Essentials, we will see ADF on the short list of candidate technologies in almost all Forms migration projects.
