I've never really understood the custom of stuffing a summary of one's family's activities for the year in a Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa card. It seems a little self-congratulatory and impersonal. I'd rather my friends kept authentically in touch throughout the year, but perhaps that's just me.Nonetheless, I see the value of a year-end summary in the IT industry. I spend a lot of time helping our customers understand the latest new developments... and straightening out confusion over changes to the old and familiar. It can be hard to keep up with the latest news in this space.Here are the eight most-important news items for 2010, with suggested actions for Apps DBAs:Premier Support for EBS 11.5.10 ended on November 30, 2010You need to be on a minimum baseline of 11.5.10 patches to be eligible for Extended Support. New patches for EBS 11i released during the Extended Support period will be produced only for the minimum baseline configuration.Action: Ensure that your EBS 11i environments meet the minimum baseline requirements. Minimum Baselines are Emerging for EBS 12.0 Extended SupportExtended Support for EBS 12.0 begins on February 1, 2012. That's only 13 months away. Minimum baselines haven't been finalized yet, but the 12.0.6 Release Update Pack and the Financials CPC July 2009 are currently slated. Action: Ensure that your EBS 12.0 environments meet the currently-specified baseline requirements. Sun, Windows, and Linux users should have upgraded to JDK 6 by nowJDK 5's End of Service Life was October 30, 2009 for those three platforms. If you're running the E-Business Suite on Sun, Windows, or Linux, you should upgrade your EBS servers to JDK 6. Alternatively, you can purchase Java for Business support (the equivalent of Extended Support for Java). Action: Upgrade your Sun, Windows, or Linux EBS servers to JDK 6. Premier Support for Database 10gR2 ended on July 31, 2010The 10gR2 Database is now in Extended Support. If you're still on 10gR2, you should start planning your upgrade to a higher certified database version such as 11gR2 11.2.0.2.Action: Upgrade to 10gR2 databases to 11gR2 11.2.0.2.