Oracle currently supports and maintains Oracle Designer 6i and Oracle9i Designer and the related Oracle
SCM (Repository) products and has just released Oracle Designer 10g
(9.0.4) and Oracle SCM 10g
(9.0.4) as part of Oracle Developer Suite10g
(9.0.4). Because of the importance of Designer to many of our customers, we
have provided regular maintenance releases for both these product sets, delivering
bug fixes and enhancements to the product when required. We will continue to
release Designer on a regular basis and will follow a similar regular release
cycle for Designer 10g.
The emergence of new technologies, specifically J2EE and UML, which are rapidly
gaining market acceptance, has influenced the direction we are taking with Designer.
Oracle will not be adding new functionality to the already feature rich and
powerful product from mid year 2004.
There is a related Designer FAQ
which should address questions and concerns which this document may raise. A
Tools Statement of Direction will be placed on OTN.
Designer and SCM (Repository)
Throughout the rest of this document Designer can be read as both Designer and
SCM (Repository) unless otherwise indicated. Both of these products are delivered
as components of the Oracle Developer Suite:
Oracle Developer Suite 10g
(9.0.4)
Oracle9i Developer
Suite Release 2 (9.0.2)
Oracle Internet Developer Suite Release 1.0.2.4
Plans for Maintenance To align with Oracle's forward looking strategy Oracle will continue
to fix bugs and releasing these in ongoing regular maintenance cycles. There
will be no further new features added to the product. Ongoing maintenance
will continue for the Oracle Designer 10g
release, following the desupport of Designer 6i at the end of 2004 and the
desupport of 9i Designer, mid year 2005.
Release Schedule for Designer
The regular maintenance releases of Designer 6i and 9i Designer have allowed Oracle
to reduce the number of costly one off patches and patch escalations to almost
zero. Below is a timeline of Designer maintenance releases that illustrates
our past releases and plans for future releases. More details for each of Designer 6i,
9i Designer and Designer 10g
follows.
Figure 1: Oracle Designer and Oracle SCM Maintenance Release cycles
Designer releases targeted for the same release date will have the same fixes.
e.g. Oracle will be releasing Oracle Designer 6i release 4.10, Oracle9i
Designer release 9.0.2.8 and Oracle Designer 10g
(9.0.4.4)with the same fixes and performance enhancements
in April 2004.
Oracle Designer 10g (9.0.4)
Oracle Designer 10g (9.0.4.3)
is part of Oracle Developer Suite10g (9.0.4) for NT, and has recently
been released.
Oracle Designer 10g will supersede the Designer 6i
and 9i
Designer releases and become the primary release, offering optimal continued
support and maintenance.
Releases The initial maintenance release of Designer 10g (9.0.4.4) will contain the
latest set of bug fixes and the completion of work started on enhancing existing
features. The most significant of these being the completion of work on the
Repository Object Browser (ROB). This work offers the ability to publish diagrams,
from the Entity Relationship Diagrammer or the Design Editor, to the web. Significant
work to improve performance has also been done. This work will be rolled into
the 9.0.4.4 release. The next maintenance release, Oracle Designer 10g (9.0.4.5), is targeted for
Autumn 2004. Oracle will have an ongoing maintenance cycle for Designer 10g.
Certification
Designer 10g will continue to offer the
same capabilities for Oracle Database 10g and for Oracle9i Database as Designer 9.0.2
does for the Oracle 9i
database. [See FAQ]
Oracle9i Designer
Oracle9i Designer
is part of Oracle9i
Developer Suite (9.0.2). With the release of Oracle Developer Suite10g (9.0.4), customers will
be recommended to upgrade from 9i
Designer and start using Designer 10g (9.0.4).
There are further maintenance releases planned for 9i
Designer, for example there is a 9i
Designer Release 9.0.2.9 maintenance release planned for later in the year.
This will contain the same features as the Designer 10g (9.0.4.5) maintenance release mentioned
above.
9i Designer
(9.0.2.x) Desupport The desupport date for Designer 9.0.2.x is
30 June 2008, with the end of Error Correction Support starting from 30 June
2005, together with the rest of the tools in the Oracle9i
Developer Suite (9.0.2). [See Support Note 269216.1
on Metalink]
Oracle recommends customers upgrade their systems to Designer 10g (9.0.4),
as soon as possible. Customers on 9i
Designer can upgrade directly to Designer 10g (9.0.4). Customers upgrading
should upgrade to Developer Suite 10g (9.0.4), released April 2004.
Oracle Designer 6i
Designer 6i Desupport The desupport date for Designer 6i
is 31 December 2007, with the end of Error Correction Support starting
from 31 January 2005. [See Support Note 239742.1 on Metalink.]
Oracle has, for the past year or more, been working on both Oracle Designer
6i and 9i
Designer, sharing the maintenance cycles. This means that any bugs fixed
or enhancements are is included in both releases.
Releases The next release of Designer 6i
is Release 4.10 and includes the completion of work to the Repository Object
Browser (ROB) by adding the ability to publish diagrams, from the Entity Relationship
Diagrammer or the Design Editor, to the web. Release 4.10 is targeted for April
2004, together with the Designer 10g (9.0.4.4 ) release mentioned
above.
A Designer 6i 4.11
maintenance release is planned for autumn, which will contain the same features
as the Designer 10g (9.0.4.5) release mentioned above.
There are no further releases planned before the Designer 6i
desupport target date in January 2005. Oracle recommends customers
upgrade their systems to Oracle Designer 10g(9.0.4.x),
as soon as possible. Customers on Designer 6i
can upgrade directly to Designer 10g(9.0.4.x)
and do not need to upgrade to 9i Designer first. Customers upgrading
should upgrade to Developer Suite 10g (9.0.4), released April 2004.
Conclusion
With the exception of certification for Oracle Database 10g support, the ability to publish
diagrams to the ROB and the completion of work to improve performance, Oracle
has no plans for further new features in Designer. From January 2005, Oracle
will have an ongoing maintenance cycles for 9i
Designer and Designer 10g
and from June 2005, ongoing maintenance cycles will be for Designer 10g
only. Customers on any release of Designer should plan to upgrade
to Designer 10g (9.0.4)
or any of the follow up 10g
maintenance releases as soon as possible in order to continue to take advantage
of the ongoing bug fixing and regular updates. (For further questions see FAQ )
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