[German]Has Oracle simply gambled with the pricing of JAVA licenses? It will be bitter for subscribers when Oracle issues an invoice for the licensing of JAVA. After all, it is calculated on a "per user" basis. It is incomprehensible to me that those affected are only now switching to OpenJDK. Here is another look at this situation, based on a survey.
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User-based Oracle Java SE licenses
JAVA from Sun used to be a free programming language and environment. But since the takeover by Oracle, the JAVA SE license has become chargeable for companies from a certain version onwards. In February 2019, I found information at the University of Stuttgart that the Oracle Java license conditions have changed to the effect that these licenses are now also subject to a fee for educational institutions. At that time, this affected Java 8 from update release 211 and all versions from Java 11 onwards. This information on Oracle JAVA licenses can be found on the JAVA page.
On September 13, 2021, there was probably an announcement for the new Java LTS release 17, which could be used free of charge again (see). After downloading Oracle Java 17 LTS and accepting the "No Fee Terms and Conditions" agreements (NFTC), users will receive free updates until September 2024. For most commercial users, however, it has been said for years that the use of JAVA SE is subject to a fee.
In the meantime, however, there is another problem that I addressed in 2023 in the article Licensing hooks: MS SQL Server license increased by factor 3, and user-based Oracle Java SE licenses. A new pricing model is now no longer based on the number of JAVA deployments used, but on the number of employees. Although there are different price levels for different numbers of employees, it means that every employee in the company is counted for licensing purposes, even if they do not use Java software.
As a result, companies that use Java SE are affected by significant price increases. I reported in June 2024 in the article Oracle plays the JAVA license card; audits in companies; hunt for unlicensed users that Oracle is now hunting down unlicensed users and conducting audits in companies. This often ends in hefty bills for license costs due to the use of JAVA SE. In the article I mentioned that companies that are questioned by Oracle by letter about their JAVA use would not reveal too much.
Customer migration
It was incomprehensible to me that companies had not long since switched to free JAVA SE alternatives such as Amazon's Corretto. For example, I have been using it for years in order to be able to use the Android development environment sporadically. The other day I came across this article on The Register, which deals with the bitter aftertaste of JAVA licensing by Oracle. The consequence that many companies are drawing is the switch to OpenJDK.
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The market research company Dimensional Research surveyed 663 people about JAVA and the Oracle pricing model of user-based licensing, which has been in force since January 2023, and published a study with the results.
- Only 14 percent of Oracle Java subscribers plan to stay with this vendor's runtime environment, according to the study conducted after the introduction of an employee-based subscription model.
- As many as 36 percent of Java users surveyed stated that they had already switched to the employee-based pricing model introduced in January 2023. They are therefore feeling the effects of the new license model.
- In the survey, 86 percent stated that they use Oracle Java SE and currently want to outsource all or some of their Java applications from Oracle environments or are planning to do so. The reason: the Oracle environment is simply becoming too expensive.
- 47 percent of respondents cited a preference for open source as the reason for the move. But 38 percent of respondents are considering the move due to the uncertainty caused by Oracle's constant changes to pricing, licensing and support.
What experts had predicted shortly after the introduction of the new Oracle JAVA license and pricing model has come true. There has been a significant price increase for users who have opted for the new Oracle model. Gartner had already predicted in 2023 that the costs for the new subscription package would be two to five times higher than for the previous usage-based model.
The research was sponsored by Azul, a company that provides support for open source Java platforms. Its CEO Scott Sellers told The Register that there was a strong trend away from Oracle Java SE towards OpenJDK alternatives. Scott Sellers said: "One of the main reasons given by respondents as to why users have moved away from Oracle Java was cost. So it's quite likely that the new pricing has exacerbated these concerns. One of the main reasons cited by respondents as to why users migrated away from Oracle Java was cost. So it's quite likely that the new pricing has exacerbated these concerns."
According to The Register's article, 46 percent of respondents chose a paid platform such as Bellsoft Liberica, IBM Semeru or Azul Platform Core to support OpenJDK applications in production. But 45 percent rely on a free, supported platform such as Amazon Corretto or Microsoft Build of OpenJDK; and 37 percent chose a free, unsupported platform.
Of users who have already switched to OpenJDK, 25 percent said Oracle was significantly more expensive, while 41 percent said Big Red's licensing made it slightly more expensive than the alternative, according to The Register. It seems to me that Oracle may have gambled on this move at the end of the day.
Similar articles:
Oracle plays the JAVA license card; audits in companies; hunt for unlicensed users
Licensing hooks: MS SQL Server license increased by factor 3, and user-based Oracle Java SE licenses
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