Is Forms 4.0 stable?

• Quoting Washide_at_News.Delphi.Com to All dated 02-02-94 ***
  > We've currently got some apps running under Forms 3.0 and would like to
  > migrate to Version 4.0. During training for some new V3 users here,
  > the instructor commented that 4.0 is still full of bugs and Oracle has
  > no real intent to keep 4.0 a viable GUI product due to the fact that there
  > are so many other products out there (for example, Powerbuilder). The
  > instructor wasn't from Oracle.
  

Apart from making no sense whatsoever (Oracle has reportedly already licensed $250 million of 4.0) it shows a real misunderstanding of the product. How many GUI database tools can you name that are platform independent?

I have been working with the 4.0 tools since April 1993 and we currently have three systems in production entirely in 4.0.12. Any bugs in the application are ours, not Oracle's.

There was instability in previous versions (alphas, betas) but in the production releases the tools are very solid. There are a few bugs, but nothing that will stop development or cause any affects on a production application, or even slow down a competent developer.

> What kind of experience have other people had with Forms 4.0? Is it
> still unstable or what? Any info that you have would be appreciated?

In my experience, most problems with 4.0 are caused by the form coder being unfamiliar with the tool, not the tool itself.

• Michael Stowe Director, Technical Services Constellation Engineering stowe_at_aol.com