Remarkably positive Gartner analysis of Oracle Application Development Framework ADF

Many of our customers are looking for a future platform for application development. Most of them have been developing using the Oracle Developer Suite (Forms / Reports) for years. And although Forms is not going away in the near future, finding an alternative is on the agenda. Various platforms are considered (see the Results from our Oracle Forms Users Survey), Oracle ADF is one of them and the one that gets the most push from Oracle.

In a recently published overview “Oracle Application Development Framework: Past, Present and Future” Gartner explains Oracle’s proprietary Java framework ADF en discusses it’s pros and cons. And although we find quite some resistance and hesitation towards ADF from customers, the conclusions of Gartner’s analysis are predominantly positive.

The article is an interesting read for customers that are considering ADF for their custom application development. The article states that Oracle-centric IT organizations, especially those that depend heavily upon Oracle Fusion Middleware, will find value in adopting ADF. This is particularly so for customers running or planning to use Oracle Fusion Applications, where ADF skills are required for customization. Especially for those organizations, ADF is a productivity booster that extends with a wide range of features that bridge numerous standard Java blueprint design practices. Gartner advises to start investing in building ADF skills, but does not mention the specific challenge of the steep learning curve for ADF.

The strengths of ADF are also its weakness. Gartner advises organizations that also develop Java applications on non-Oracle platforms to consider alternatives to ADF. The same is true is vendor lock-in is considered a problem.

Check out the article and let us know what you think. Is ADF a good direction for your applications, organization and you personally? I’d love to hear your opinion.