Oracle has recently defined a clear patch set release and support policy. This states that the first major release of a version (e.g. 12.1) will have only 2 patch sets and the second major release (e.g 12.2) will have 4 patch sets. The problem is that between the terminal patch sets of 12.1 and 12.2, there will be many years apart. 12.2.0.4 might be only released in 5 or 6 years from now. Customers will need to have a YS defined in the meantime with at least one of the "middle" patch sets (e.g. 12.2.0.2). However, as this is a mid patch set, the support lifetime for it will be limited.
- Customers will struggle to have all estate migrated to this version within this timeframe and having to migrate to it and then off if in 3 years is absolutely unrealistic.
The ask for Oracle is to have at least one of the middle patchsets with a longer support lifetime.