REALLY! And You Still Want APEX?

During my tenure at Oracle working in Global Support, I always use to get Service Requests (SRs) from DBAs about APEX being invalid in dba_registry. 

The conversation went something like this. 

DBA : APEX is showing invalid in dba_reigstry. Can you help me make it valid.

Me   : Do you use APEX?

DBA : No.

Me   : And you still want APEX to be installed and valid?

My thought process was why would anyone want to install something they are not using. Why bother? Now, some DBAs agreed to remove APEX, whereas some other DBAs still wanted it installed and made valid (even though they were not going to use it).

In hindsight, I believe the conversation should have been like the following.

DBA : APEX is showing invalid in dba_reigstry. Can you help me make it valid.

Me   : Do you use APEX?

DBA : No.

Me   : Oh, you really should. Let's get the latest version installed and show you what it's all about. You won't be disappointed.

So why the change in mindset? Let's move away from IT in answering this question. If I was to by a new car and the salesperson offered me this new cool add on for free - of course I'd take it. I might not know what it is, but I'll certainly find a way of knowing what it does and how I could use it. 

So the same goes for APEX. Oracle is offering a cool tool for FREE, so why should I, the DBA or anyone else for that matter not take it.

The key here is to show people who do not know about APEX the power of the tool and what it can do. There are plenty of blogs, youTube videos, community chats on APEX so it should not be hard to get a novice up and running on using APEX. 

Here is just a taster of an APEX app that is helpful to our DBAs.