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I'm confused. Is this a cost-cutting move intended to push the industry towards Java 9? If a business is able to switch to Java SE 9, will they still be eligibl

I'm confused. Is this a cost-cutting move intended to push the industry towards Java 9? If a business is able to switch to Java SE 9, will they still be eligible to receive free upgrades?

jerven 8y ago
You will need to upgrade to JDK11. Or find another JDK 8 support option e.g. RedHat or Azul
the_grue 8y ago
Okay, replying to myself after a couple of quick Google searches. The situation is quite complex. A big part of the industry seems to be stuck at Java 8 right now due to several reasons. One of them is the momentum Java 8 gained when it was released in 2017, 8 years after Java 7. It was a strong release, bringing much-awaited features to the aging Java ecosystem. Subsequent released didn't come anywhere close to that. Another big reason is the uncertainty of the upgrade path. Java 9 was released comparatively short time afterwards, and it is set to expire... last month. [1] Unsurprisingly, many customers chose to stay with a stabilized, thoroughly tested version of Java 8, rather than switch to a bleeding edge (in Java terms, at least), untested Java 9 with a very short time fuse on it. Finally, Java 10, which has been released recently, is also due to expire very shortly - in fall 2018. So overall this looks like a very aggressive monetization move on Oracle's part, intended to extract $$ from customers who value stability of their platform. It goes completely against the long-established tradition of stability in the Java ecosystem, which is one of the reasons many of the customers chose it, in the first place. I expect a massive migration towards OpenJDK and a backlash in the community, which will ultimately push Oracle aside. [1] http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/eol-135779.html http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/eol-135779.html
- pjmlp 8y ago
  Every time people suggest OpenJDK to move away from Oracle, they should learn who actually writes OpenJDK code. The roadmap is quite clear, Java 11 planned to be released in September, will be the next LTS release. Business will have one year to migrate to 10, used the 11 preview on their test systems, and eventually migrate to the next LTS release. I applaud Oracle here, business don't do anything unless pushed to do so. I still have to occasionally program against Java 1.4, just because there is this forgotten server no one wants to touch.
  - miken123 8y ago
    Upgrading to a new JDK every 6 months is pushing a bit too hard if you ask me. In case of JDK 8 -> JDK 11 (LTS to LTS) you even have only 4 months. A new JDK may have breaking changes, which may require code changes, acceptance testing, deployment to many customer sites. It is not unusual for that process to take 6 to 12 months, and you certainly do not want to repeat that process every 6 months.
    - pjmlp 8y ago
      So better start today making sure it runs on Java 10. It doesn't need to be deployed straight into production. Surely there will be very few things to fix by the time 11 is ready. Preview releases exist exactly for that. We don't need Python 2/3 dichotomy on Java.
      - _Codemonkeyism 8y ago
        My main point with Java upgrades is not source code, but different behaviour in production. Or some side effects you didn't get in testing.
        pjmlp 8y ago
        You don't test just for a couple of hours. One sets up a test machine as part of the continuous integration worflow.
        _Codemonkeyism 8y ago
        Yes, but with every large applications I've been bitten by non-functional problems in production with major Java migrations, as non-functional testing is usually not as extensive as user testing. The answer was to: "So better start today making sure it runs on Java 10. It doesn't need to be deployed straight into production." Making sure it runs on Java 10 is not the problem, I expressed myself too fuzzy.
  - vbezhenar 8y ago
- lanna 8y ago
  > the momentum Java 8 gained when it was released in 2017, 8 years after Java 7 Java 8 was released in 2014, a little less than 3 years after Java 7: Java SE 6: December 11, 2006 Java SE 7: July 28, 2011 Java SE 8: March 18, 2014 Java SE 9: September 21, 2017 Java SE 10: March 20, 2018
  - the_grue 8y ago
    Yes, 2017 was a typo, thank you. 2014 is 8 years after 2006.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]

I'm confused. Is this a cost-cutting move intended to push the industry towards Java 9? If a business is able to switch to Java SE 9, will they still be eligible to receive free upgrades?

jerven 8y ago

You will need to upgrade to JDK11. Or find another JDK 8 support option e.g. RedHat or Azul

the_grue 8y ago

Okay, replying to myself after a couple of quick Google searches. The situation is quite complex. A big part of the industry seems to be stuck at Java 8 right now due to several reasons. One of them is the momentum Java 8 gained when it was released in 2017, 8 years after Java 7. It was a strong release, bringing much-awaited features to the aging Java ecosystem. Subsequent released didn't come anywhere close to that. Another big reason is the uncertainty of the upgrade path. Java 9 was released comparatively short time afterwards, and it is set to expire... last month. [1] Unsurprisingly, many customers chose to stay with a stabilized, thoroughly tested version of Java 8, rather than switch to a bleeding edge (in Java terms, at least), untested Java 9 with a very short time fuse on it. Finally, Java 10, which has been released recently, is also due to expire very shortly - in fall 2018. So overall this looks like a very aggressive monetization move on Oracle's part, intended to extract $$ from customers who value stability of their platform. It goes completely against the long-established tradition of stability in the Java ecosystem, which is one of the reasons many of the customers chose it, in the first place. I expect a massive migration towards OpenJDK and a backlash in the community, which will ultimately push Oracle aside. [1] http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/eol-135779.html http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/eol-135779.html

pjmlp 8y ago
Every time people suggest OpenJDK to move away from Oracle, they should learn who actually writes OpenJDK code. The roadmap is quite clear, Java 11 planned to be released in September, will be the next LTS release. Business will have one year to migrate to 10, used the 11 preview on their test systems, and eventually migrate to the next LTS release. I applaud Oracle here, business don't do anything unless pushed to do so. I still have to occasionally program against Java 1.4, just because there is this forgotten server no one wants to touch.
- miken123 8y ago
  Upgrading to a new JDK every 6 months is pushing a bit too hard if you ask me. In case of JDK 8 -> JDK 11 (LTS to LTS) you even have only 4 months. A new JDK may have breaking changes, which may require code changes, acceptance testing, deployment to many customer sites. It is not unusual for that process to take 6 to 12 months, and you certainly do not want to repeat that process every 6 months.
  - pjmlp 8y ago
    So better start today making sure it runs on Java 10. It doesn't need to be deployed straight into production. Surely there will be very few things to fix by the time 11 is ready. Preview releases exist exactly for that. We don't need Python 2/3 dichotomy on Java.
    - _Codemonkeyism 8y ago
      My main point with Java upgrades is not source code, but different behaviour in production. Or some side effects you didn't get in testing.
      - pjmlp 8y ago
        You don't test just for a couple of hours. One sets up a test machine as part of the continuous integration worflow.
        _Codemonkeyism 8y ago
        Yes, but with every large applications I've been bitten by non-functional problems in production with major Java migrations, as non-functional testing is usually not as extensive as user testing. The answer was to: "So better start today making sure it runs on Java 10. It doesn't need to be deployed straight into production." Making sure it runs on Java 10 is not the problem, I expressed myself too fuzzy.
- vbezhenar 8y ago
lanna 8y ago
> the momentum Java 8 gained when it was released in 2017, 8 years after Java 7 Java 8 was released in 2014, a little less than 3 years after Java 7: Java SE 6: December 11, 2006 Java SE 7: July 28, 2011 Java SE 8: March 18, 2014 Java SE 9: September 21, 2017 Java SE 10: March 20, 2018
- the_grue 8y ago
  Yes, 2017 was a typo, thank you. 2014 is 8 years after 2006.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]