Oracle Java going Subscription

[Your PCMD]

Don't know if this will effect anyone, but thought it a good read. Personally, I wonder how this will effect things like Unifi since it requires Java.

https://www.java.com/en/download/release_notice.jsp

Public updates for Oracle Java SE 8 will remain available for individual, personal use through at least the end of 2020.

Public updates for Oracle Java SE 8 released after January 2019 will not be available for business, commercial or production use without a commercial license.

If you are a CONSUMER using Java for individual, personal use, you will continue to have the same access to Oracle Java SE 8 updates as you do today through at least the end of 2020. In most instances, the Java-based applications you run are licensed separately by a company other than Oracle (for example, games you play on your PC are likely developed by a gaming company). These applications may run on the Java platform and be dependent on Oracle Java SE 8 updates beyond 2020. Accordingly, Oracle recommends you contact your application provider for details on how they plan to continue to provide application support to you.

If you are a DEVELOPER, Oracle recommends you review the roadmap information for Java SE 8 and beyond and take appropriate action depending on the type of application you develop and your distribution model.

If you are acting on behalf of an ENTERPRISE, Oracle recommends you review the roadmap information for Java SE 8 and beyond and begin to assess your ongoing Java support requirements in order to migrate to a later release or obtain a Java SE Subscription, as appropriate, on a timely basis.

If you are an ORACLE CUSTOMER who is licensed to use Java SE as part of another Oracle product, you continue to have access to Oracle Java SE 8 updates beyond 2019 for use with those Oracle products, see this My Oracle Support (MOS) note for more information.

Information on the subscription.

https://shop.oracle.com/apex/f?p=DSTORE:2:::NO:RIR,RP,2:PROD_HIER_ID:123775488249871532594385

Oracle Java SE Subscription
1 Year Term Subscription that combines Java SE Licensing and Support for use on Desktops, Servers or Cloud deployments.

US$150.00 - US$300.00

 

[phaZed]

IMO, bye bye Java. Anyone that is running the Server/PC version of UniFi would be better server by simply picking up a cloud key instead of paying for Java.

In this day in age, it shouldn't be too difficult to port UniFi controller to something else (and they should - Java is always a problem).

 

[Sky-Knight]

The cloud key still uses Java, that doesn't solve anything.

And as far as I can see, this doesn't even matter unless you're using Java as a developer, and once you buy the subscription you provide those updates to your clients.

Furthermore, this only applies to JRE8, not JRE9

So you're still free with Oracle if you upgrade to Java 9, which unifi doesn't support yet.

But yeah, all of this is a huge excuse to just get rid of that nightmare from our networks.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Check out differences from Java "SE"...versus Java "RE" or "JRE"

Most of us here never laid hands on Java "SE".

 

[kurros]

Think of this as similar to what Microsoft is doing with selling extended enterprise support for Windows 7.

Java SE 8 is reaching End of Public Updates in 2020, and users are expected to move onto a newer release (presumably Java SE 11, the next LTS) by then. But similar to the extended support for Windows 7, extended support for SE 8 can be purchased through 2025.

Furthermore, this only applies to JRE8, not JRE9

So you're still free with Oracle if you upgrade to Java 9, which unifi doesn't support yet.

Java SE 9 was not a Long Term Support release and is already End Of Life (along with Java SE 10). Java SE 11 is the next LTS.

 

[Sky-Knight]

@kurros, yes you are correct, either way my point is we need to be getting JRE 8 off platforms.

 

[trevm999]

There's still OpenJDK

 

[fencepost]

For my clients, I've already pulled Java from a bunch of places that really don't need it. For the ones that do, I'm mostly waiting for the State of Illinois Medical EDI site to figure out what they're going to do, because they use Java for an authentication applet. I can't think of anything else clients are using these days that actually requires Java, though I may find out about a few things once removing it breaks things.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

, I'm mostly waiting for the State of Illinois Medical EDI site to figure out what they're going to do, because they use Java for an authentication applet. .

The worst offender of Java seems to be healthcare. I have some clients, their EMR leverages Java...OLD versions. New versions can break it.
Many medical billing sites use an old browser based Juniper SSL VPN that runs on Java.

 

[fencepost]

I believe the last of the Juniper VPN hospitals around here finished their switchover to all Citrix-based connections a couple years ago. It's possible that eClinicalWorks self-hosted would require an older version of Java, but a) they really don't do that any more for clients of the size we deal with and b) I'm not that concerned about it as an internal binary on a limited-access server. If I had a client where running the EMR client software required an obsolete version of Java, I'd be telling them "Either the vendor is lying to you about their certifications or they're lying to you about the environment required to run the software, because you cannot both run the software as they require it and be HIPAA compliant with your current configuration." I guess I could then offer them the option of a server-hosted application accessed via Citrix to keep it separate from everything else on the network, but that seems like a lot of headache and licensing expense.