Oracle XE 12c becomes Oracle XE 18c

Oracle Database, Express Edition (XE) is a free version of the Oracle Database, currently available as version 11g (11.2) for Windows and Linux.

A planned new version of Oracle XE based on 12c (12.2) was first mentioned back in 2013. Now we are in 2017 and Oracle has changed its version numbering, aiming for yearly releases of the database, which means that after 12c comes 18c (in 2018) and 19c (in 2019) and so on.

According to information coming out at this year's Oracle OpenWorld, the next version of Oracle Database Express Edition (XE) will therefore be Oracle XE 18c.

Below are the details known so far about this upcoming version. Disclaimer: I've collected this information from tweets and blogs, so nothing is official yet. Time will tell as to what is true. UPDATE: Gerald Venzl from Oracle has confirmed the below to be "all true" :-)

• The next version of Oracle Express Edition (XE) will be 18c. (Source: Chris Saxon, Twitter)
• Oracle XE 18c is expected in Q1 of 2018. (Source: AMIS blog). UPDATE: Oracle XE 18c "is currently planned between March and August 2018 and might change". (Source: Gerald Venzl, Twitter)
• There will be yearly releases of Oracle Express Edition (XE), ie Oracle XE 19c in 2019, etc. (Source: Franck Pachot, Twitter).
• There will be simultaneous releases of XE for Linux and Windows. (Source: Gerald Venzl, Twitter)
• Limits for XE 18c will be 2 GB of memory, 12GB of storage (with basic/advanced compression bringing real capacity up to around 40GB), 2 CPUs and 4 pluggable databases. (Source: AMIS blog and Lucas Jellema, Twitter)
• Express Edition (XE) will actually include "nearly all" of the features from Enterprise Edition (EE)! (Source: Franck Pachot, Twitter and Chris Saxon, Twitter).
• Express Edition (XE) will still be free for both development and production. (Source: Chris Saxon, Twitter).
• There will be no support (except through community/forums) for XE, and no bug fixes/patches. Still, with a yearly release cycle that means bugs will be fixed by upgrading to the latest release. (Source: Franck Pachot and Bob Bryla, Twitter)

If most, or even some, of the above is true, this is really great news! I understand we should thank Gerald Venzl at Oracle for this, as he is the guy working on bringing us all this goodness! Thanks in advance, Gerald! :-)

ODC Appreciation Day: The PL/SQL Language

Like last year, Tim Hall of oracle-base.com fame suggested we should all do an "ODC Appreciation Day" in honor of the Oracle Developer Community (ODC), by blogging about our favorite Oracle product or feature.

My personal favorite, after the database itself, is the PL/SQL language that runs inside the database.

Here's what's great about it:

• Simple (and therefore easy to understand and quick to learn)
• Runs everywhere the Oracle database runs (any operating system)
• Seamlessly integrated with SQL
• Great performance, not least because it runs in the database server alongside your data, thus eliminating a lot of mid-tier overhead 

I made a presentation a while back that goes into greater detail about what makes PL/SQL great, take a look at PL/SQL: The Good Parts.


Thanks ODC!