9 ms·

Re-affirming Long-Term Support for Java in Amazon Linux

137 points by pritambarhate 8y ago

pritambarhate 8y ago
>> We are collaborating and contributing in the OpenJDK community to provide our customers with a free long-term supported Java runtime. So hopefully other distros will also be able to support OpenJDK8 for a few years to come.
setquk 8y ago
Microsoft .Net team take note.
- teget 8y ago
  Classic .net deployments are regarded as system components, they will receive security updates as long as the supporting OS is supported(that's at least the sales pitch we received) So 4.6 on Windows 10 will be supported at least till 14th October 2025 and 4.7 on Windows 10 at least until 13th October 2026 (if you are willing to pay Microsoft for that)
  - sgift 8y ago
    > (if you are willing to pay Microsoft for that) So ... same as with Oracle. The "if you are willing to pay" part is what people are crying about.
    - BjorksEgo 8y ago
      This amazon release specifically says that amazon will only support up to 2023, what makes you think they won't do the same?
      - sokoloff 8y ago
        The Amazon release promises support out to that date. There's fairly good business reason to think that, if OpenJDK continues to be popular and relevant (as I expect it will be), that Amazon will continue to extend that date, keeping it roughly four to five years in the future each time. They're giving confidence in the long-term support of Java on their platform, not making an indefinite promise about the future.
        setquk 8y ago
        Also to note James Gosling works at Amazon since May '17. They clearly have a vested interest in Java.
    - oblio 8y ago
      .NET Framework was released in 2014 and will be supported until 2025. I'm not sure the timeframes are comparable regarding Microsoft vs Oracle.
chvid 8y ago
This is great. Seeming that Oracle's policy changes have caused other big player to step in and support Java in a convincing manner. I am not sure if that was Oracle's intent given the company's reputation but I think it actually might be ...
jarym 8y ago
No real surprise - a lot of Java underpins AWS and a lot of enterprise customers that Amazon covet are Java shops. Keeping everyone happy for the sake of profit and market share. Only loser is Oracle who were a loser before so no change for them.
- hunta2097 8y ago
  With so much hate for Oracle, how long before they crash? It's not like the hate for Apple, Microsoft or Google (which have enclaves of distrust) - in my experience Oracle seems universally hated.
  - bayindirh 8y ago
    We've bought some of their high end ZFS boxes. While I cannot comment for the hardware and experience (I temporarily left the team after we bought the HW), during the buying process I gained some valuable insight about them. It looks like, unlike Apple, Microsoft or Google they are motivated solely by the money. Not the monopoly, not the domination, not the technology, just the money. If they can earn the same amount of money, without doing anything, they will happily do that. Yes, they have very good technologies, but they are just built for the money. Every corporation is in for the money, but money is generally a byproduct of good services and technologies, however it's backwards for Oracle. Services, products, and technologies are a byproduct of money. Money is not needed for products. Products are needed for money. This is why Oracle is used also as an acronym for Larry Ellison's character and material wealth.
    - manishsharan 8y ago
      While that is true, I am under the impresssion OpenJDK project is mostly Oracle developers
      - jacques_chester 8y ago
        There'll be a diaspora soon enough, as other companies beef up on their OpenJDK rosters to bolster credibility in the face of Oracle FUD.
bradleyjg 8y ago
This is good news. Red Hat and IBM had already made similar announcements, but now that’s one company rather than two. Since we are talking about long term maintenance here, this is definitely a more the merrier situation.
InTheArena 8y ago
It’s good that Amazon (As well as IBM and Redhat which are supporting OpenJDK, and Microsoft which made a deal with Azul) are supporting Java... However, the writing is on the wall. Oracle is desperately trying to monetize Java, and they will be successful for a little bit, this also dilutes their control of the ecosystem. That can lead to fragmentation. It also changes the equation about what kind of adoption corporations will be willing to do with java, and not have a lawyer worry about a per-vCPU licensing term. We’ve started discussions about a long slow gradual transition from Java. I’m very very sure we are not the only one.
ilovecaching 8y ago
It’s hard to decide what I hate more about Java, the language or the enterprise mediocrity and corporate/enterprise licensed crapware that pervades the ecosystem. It’s no surprise Amazon will carry the torch for OpenJDK, their internal culture perfectly fits the Java mindset, as does Oracles.
- meddlepal 8y ago
  Huh? I feel like this kind of emotional opinion can only come from someone that has little or no experience with Java beyond reading a few random blogs about it.
  - ilovecaching 8y ago
    Yes, obviously anyone who doesn’t like Java is a moron, and couldn’t possibly have used Java, because it’s so perfect.
- ratfaced-guy 8y ago
  Java and its ecosystem is great. It helps our teams easily solve business problems. And at the end of the day, what matters is business needs, I'm really tired of all these purists trashing a great framework.
  - tootie 8y ago
    I've always said that Java is the best for solving organizational problems moreso than programming problems. In fact, I think the feature that catapulted it to the forefront was probably javadoc. The reality is that there is very little difference in the effectiveness of different program languages unless you're deep into niche problem domains. Java is a perfectly good general-purpose language with a powerful toolchain.
  - ilovecaching 8y ago
    A) Java isn’t a framework. B) Not liking Java doesn’t make someone a purist. C) You can solve business problems in other languages besides Java. It’s a common misconception amongst Java programmers, I know.
stunt 8y ago
All of these comments are not necessarily fair about Oracle. They are moving faster in the last 2-3 years.
- topspin 8y ago
  They are also creating uncertainty. That AWS felt this announcement was necessary is evidence of that. Whatever goodwill Oracle may have created recently is paying off a vast deficit. They don't get the benefit of the doubt.

137 points by pritambarhate 8y ago

>> We are collaborating and contributing in the OpenJDK community to provide our customers with a free long-term supported Java runtime. So hopefully other distros will also be able to support OpenJDK8 for a few years to come.

setquk 8y ago

Microsoft .Net team take note.

teget 8y ago
Classic .net deployments are regarded as system components, they will receive security updates as long as the supporting OS is supported(that's at least the sales pitch we received) So 4.6 on Windows 10 will be supported at least till 14th October 2025 and 4.7 on Windows 10 at least until 13th October 2026 (if you are willing to pay Microsoft for that)
- sgift 8y ago
  > (if you are willing to pay Microsoft for that) So ... same as with Oracle. The "if you are willing to pay" part is what people are crying about.
  - BjorksEgo 8y ago
    This amazon release specifically says that amazon will only support up to 2023, what makes you think they won't do the same?
    - sokoloff 8y ago
      The Amazon release promises support out to that date. There's fairly good business reason to think that, if OpenJDK continues to be popular and relevant (as I expect it will be), that Amazon will continue to extend that date, keeping it roughly four to five years in the future each time. They're giving confidence in the long-term support of Java on their platform, not making an indefinite promise about the future.
      - setquk 8y ago
        Also to note James Gosling works at Amazon since May '17. They clearly have a vested interest in Java.
  - oblio 8y ago
    .NET Framework was released in 2014 and will be supported until 2025. I'm not sure the timeframes are comparable regarding Microsoft vs Oracle.

chvid 8y ago

This is great. Seeming that Oracle's policy changes have caused other big player to step in and support Java in a convincing manner. I am not sure if that was Oracle's intent given the company's reputation but I think it actually might be ...

jarym 8y ago

No real surprise - a lot of Java underpins AWS and a lot of enterprise customers that Amazon covet are Java shops. Keeping everyone happy for the sake of profit and market share. Only loser is Oracle who were a loser before so no change for them.

hunta2097 8y ago
With so much hate for Oracle, how long before they crash? It's not like the hate for Apple, Microsoft or Google (which have enclaves of distrust) - in my experience Oracle seems universally hated.
- bayindirh 8y ago
  We've bought some of their high end ZFS boxes. While I cannot comment for the hardware and experience (I temporarily left the team after we bought the HW), during the buying process I gained some valuable insight about them. It looks like, unlike Apple, Microsoft or Google they are motivated solely by the money. Not the monopoly, not the domination, not the technology, just the money. If they can earn the same amount of money, without doing anything, they will happily do that. Yes, they have very good technologies, but they are just built for the money. Every corporation is in for the money, but money is generally a byproduct of good services and technologies, however it's backwards for Oracle. Services, products, and technologies are a byproduct of money. Money is not needed for products. Products are needed for money. This is why Oracle is used also as an acronym for Larry Ellison's character and material wealth.
  - manishsharan 8y ago
    While that is true, I am under the impresssion OpenJDK project is mostly Oracle developers
    - jacques_chester 8y ago
      There'll be a diaspora soon enough, as other companies beef up on their OpenJDK rosters to bolster credibility in the face of Oracle FUD.

bradleyjg 8y ago

This is good news. Red Hat and IBM had already made similar announcements, but now that’s one company rather than two. Since we are talking about long term maintenance here, this is definitely a more the merrier situation.

InTheArena 8y ago

It’s good that Amazon (As well as IBM and Redhat which are supporting OpenJDK, and Microsoft which made a deal with Azul) are supporting Java... However, the writing is on the wall. Oracle is desperately trying to monetize Java, and they will be successful for a little bit, this also dilutes their control of the ecosystem. That can lead to fragmentation. It also changes the equation about what kind of adoption corporations will be willing to do with java, and not have a lawyer worry about a per-vCPU licensing term. We’ve started discussions about a long slow gradual transition from Java. I’m very very sure we are not the only one.

ilovecaching 8y ago

It’s hard to decide what I hate more about Java, the language or the enterprise mediocrity and corporate/enterprise licensed crapware that pervades the ecosystem. It’s no surprise Amazon will carry the torch for OpenJDK, their internal culture perfectly fits the Java mindset, as does Oracles.

meddlepal 8y ago
Huh? I feel like this kind of emotional opinion can only come from someone that has little or no experience with Java beyond reading a few random blogs about it.
- ilovecaching 8y ago
  Yes, obviously anyone who doesn’t like Java is a moron, and couldn’t possibly have used Java, because it’s so perfect.
ratfaced-guy 8y ago
Java and its ecosystem is great. It helps our teams easily solve business problems. And at the end of the day, what matters is business needs, I'm really tired of all these purists trashing a great framework.
- tootie 8y ago
  I've always said that Java is the best for solving organizational problems moreso than programming problems. In fact, I think the feature that catapulted it to the forefront was probably javadoc. The reality is that there is very little difference in the effectiveness of different program languages unless you're deep into niche problem domains. Java is a perfectly good general-purpose language with a powerful toolchain.
- ilovecaching 8y ago
  A) Java isn’t a framework. B) Not liking Java doesn’t make someone a purist. C) You can solve business problems in other languages besides Java. It’s a common misconception amongst Java programmers, I know.

stunt 8y ago

All of these comments are not necessarily fair about Oracle. They are moving faster in the last 2-3 years.

topspin 8y ago
They are also creating uncertainty. That AWS felt this announcement was necessary is evidence of that. Whatever goodwill Oracle may have created recently is paying off a vast deficit. They don't get the benefit of the doubt.