Forms is a great RAD tool. You can get rich GUI applications developed quickly and without generating a lot of code. I would consider it a 4GL tool.
The Forms 6i client/server option is not the future of Forms. Oracle plans to de-support that version in 2004.
That leaves you with web forms in the future. You get the same ruch interface option, and smae development environment, but it is run through a Java forms emulator. The client becomes a "dumb" terminal performing screen updates, and the logic all runs on the Application Server. Which at this point is Oracle 9iAS, and is relatively expensive and memory hungry (expect to pay around $20,000 per CPU).
There are runors that Oracle may release a stripped-down version of 9iAS that would include just the Forms/Reports server essentials. The assumption is that this would be a lot cheaper than the full 9iAS, which includes Portal, Discoverer, etc.
Since web-forms is what Oracle's own Applications are written in, you can expect them to be viable and supported for years.
We've been a client/server Forms/Reports shop for years, and are now looking at our options to get away from Client/Server (we also have the wish to be platform-independent so our Mac users can run our applications as well). What we're finding so far:
Oracle web-forms: Good solution, lets you design rich-GUI apps. Easy learning curve for those who are familiar with client/server Forms development. 9iAS server option is expensive and needs a powerful server. 9iAS is also very difficult to set up.
Visual Studio.net: To be platform-independent with VS.net, you're looking at using web pages generated with ASP.net. ASP.net is a big improvement over the original ASP. This HTML-based interface is nowhere near as rich as what we're used to. It's OK for web pages and static information, but I sure wouldn't want to write a complete business application. Coming from a PL/SQL background, the learning curve looks to be pretty steep. Definitley not a RAD tool like Forms; lots more coding needed underneath the surface.
Oracle JDeveloper: Java-based system seems to offer the rich GUI interface we're looking for while still being platform independent. Definitley not a RAD tool; but rumor has it Oracle is developing a RAD module for JDeveloper. Like VS.net, this is a real steep learning curve. Java Server Pages (JSP) generated in JDeveloper look and function pretty similarly to ASP pages in Visual Studio; you're limited to the less-flexible HTML interface. JDeveloper has Business Components for Java (BC4J). which is a nice JDBC interface for accessing Oracle tables and data. It greatly helps to simplify talking to the Oracle database.
Hope that helps...
Dave
