The Insurance of Oracle APEX - Can Your Low Code Framework Do This?

Oracle Application Express (APEX) runs wherever the Oracle Database runs.  I've said these words to thousands of customers and partners for the last 15 years.  So why should you care?  Simple.  Peace of mind.

Last evening, Amazon Web Services tweeted the following announcement:

"Use Amazon RDS for Oracle with Oracle APEX versions 5.0.4 & 5.1.2 to build applications within your web browser."

Now, one might think I'm daft for even mentioning AWS on my blog, but I think this presents an opportunity to emphasize two very important points about Oracle APEX:

1. While I believe that Oracle Cloud is superior for running your Oracle APEX applications, if for some reason you need to not run it on the Oracle Cloud at some later date, you have that choice.
2. Oracle APEX is not exclusively a cloud-only solution.  You can run it in the Oracle Cloud (my preference), you can run it on AWS, you can use a number of other hosting providers, you can run it with other infrastructure providers, but you can also choose to run it on-premises.  And you can change your mind among these options whenever you wish.  This is very powerful.

Oracle Application Express is a part of every Oracle Database Cloud Service from Oracle, including:

• Oracle Database Cloud Service
• Oracle Database Exadata Cloud Service
• Oracle Database Exadata Cloud Machine
• Oracle Database Exadata Express Cloud Service
• Oracle Database Schema Cloud Service

There are other cloud services coming from Oracle later this year which will also include and feature Oracle APEX.

If you think that the Oracle Database is only good for storing data (i.e., a "bit bucket"), you'd be wrong.  If you're unfamiliar with Oracle APEX, please check out this Simple Guide to Oracle APEX.  From bespoke applications in the Oracle Cloud & on-premises to Oracle ERP Cloud PaaS Extensions using Oracle APEX, our customers and partners are really killing it with the Oracle Database and Oracle APEX.

P.S.  Kudos to Amazon for referencing it as Oracle APEX and not Oracle Apex!

Emails That I Do Not Like to Receive

There have been numerous articles and blog posts about how to properly write an email, or how to properly ask a technical question. These seem to be rarely read or they are simply misunderstood.  So let me tell you about the types of emails I receive with seemingly greater frequency, and which I completely abhor.

Message Body: +Joel

What they're saying:  Rather than provide a clear and succinct explanation why I'm including you in this email thread, it's my expectation that you will read the 15 messages and replies below and discern the issue being discussed.  You are to also guess why I'm including you in this thread, and if there is an action item for you in the message below, it's expected that you will find it and take action immediately.

Sentiment implied:  My time is more important than yours.

Message Body: +[someone I don't know]

What they're saying:  Rather than provide a clear and succinct explanation why I'm including this new person in this email thread, it's my expectation that they will read the 15 messages and replies below and discern the issue being discussed.  They are to also guess why I'm including them in this thread, and if there is an action item for them in the message below, it's expected that they will find it and take action immediately.  Additionally, I am choosing to subject everyone else to a barrage of followup emails in the near future, as this new recipient will surely reply all, and ask numerous questions about this topic and why they were included on the email in the first place.

Sentiment implied:  My time is more important than the person's whom I've added to this email thread.  And everyone else's, for that matter.

Message Body: Joel, since [one member of your team] is on vacation, can you please help with the issue below?

What they're saying:  It's possible that you don't have any context in the long-running issue which is discussed in the 15 messages and replies below.  I was too busy to provide a succinct explanation or even ask if you're familiar with the issues below, so can you please read all of the messages below and guess at what further information may be required?

Sentiment implied:  My time is more important than yours.

Any time I receive emails like this in the future, I'll respond back to the authors with a link to this succinct and lucid blog post.  Maybe I'll even include an explanation why I'm sending the link!