What Mike Taught Me in December

Shortly after I started at Insum (now Talan), I jumped straight into working on a campaign around Forms Modernization. 

At the time, the idea felt simple enough: our team had found a way to assess complex Oracle Forms environments and bring them into Oracle APEX, a more modern application platform. There were plenty of reasons this mattered, but one rumor seemed to get the most attention: Oracle Forms was going to be phased out. 

That alone should’ve been enough, right?

Spoiler: it wasn’t. 

I won’t bore you with the original marketing mechanics, no one really cares about campaign frameworks anyway but what does matter is this: even two years ago, Forms Modernization already felt like something people knew they should think about… just not today. 

And so began the long game.

Two Years Later… Still Talking About Forms

Fast forward two years and we’re still talking about Forms Modernization. 

I’m still trying to get the right people’s attention. Still trying to explain that this isn’t something you casually squeeze between other priorities. Still wanting to scream from the rooftops that this is important and that you probably shouldn’t do it alone. 

If you’ve seen any of our webinar series on the topic, you know what I mean. Once you really get into the details: PL/SQL, dependencies, integrations, business logic. It’s a big undertaking. Like, whoa big. 

Then something happened that made it all very real. 

Oracle let go of Michael Ferrente, the Product Manager for Oracle Forms. 

At one point, Mike had stood in front of rooms full of people and said something along the lines of: 

“Forms isn’t dying. I know that because I still have a job.” 

And then… he didn’t. 

Remember that extended support exists until at least 2032, but that moment made it clear: Forms wasn’t going to evolve or even last forever, and people were going to have to start figuring out what comes next...soon.

Then Mike Joined Talan

The truth is that modernization doesn’t mean starting from scratch. It means evolving what you already have into something more agile, accessible, and sustainable. That’s where Oracle APEX and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) come in. Together, they offer a path that respects the investment organizations have made in Oracle Forms while delivering the modern capabilities today’s users expect responsive design, scalable architecture, and integration with the cloud. 

Modernization isn’t about abandoning the past. It’s about building it intelligently.

Okay, Get to the Point 

Within one month of Mike joining the team, together we: 

• Built and launched Forms Week
• Ran two webinars with live questions from real Forms users
• Started reworking how we talk about Forms Modernization entirely 

But more importantly, things clicked. 

So, I figured it was worth sharing a few of my biggest lightbulb moments.

Migration and Modernization Are Not the Same Thing

This was a big one for me. 

I used to blur these terms together. Mike doesn’t and that distinction matters. 

Here’s how we look at it now (and yes, we offer all of these as options): 

Migration 

• Converting Forms to APEX Moving Forms to APEX on-prem or Cloud
• Changing platforms, largely as-is 

Modernization 

• Improving UX/UI
• Cleaning up workflows
• Adding new features and efficiencies 

Customization 

• Modernization, plus new capabilities that are unique to your business 

You can do all of it. 

You can do some of it. 

But you should probably do something. 

What I learned in December is that Forms modernization is not a one-size-fits-all project, and it is not something you rush just because a deadline is looming. It is a process. It requires context, experience, and honest conversations about what you actually need versus what you think you need. 

We are still learning. We are still refining how we approach this. But having Mike on the team has shifted how we think, how we talk about Forms, and how we help people plan what comes next. And that feels like the right place to be.

About Mike

Michael Ferrante
Director of the Forms to APEX Practice

Michael Ferrante is the former Oracle Forms Product Manager and now part of Talan Oracle Technologies, where he continues to help organizations modernize their Oracle Forms applications using Oracle APEX and Oracle Cloud.