The First Step in Oracle Java Migration Comes from Within 

Hi. I’m Michael. Welcome back to the Oracle Java Recovery Network, where healing from Oracle Java begins. 

As we covered in our last meeting, we guide organizations who feel trapped by long-term Oracle Java agreements and ongoing price changes through a structured six-step program. Today we’re talking about acceptance and determination.

Acceptance: Acknowledge your organization’s relationship with Oracle Java is keeping you up at night. Pricing and licensing changes are raising your costs. Audits put you in an adversarial relationship with your software provider. Once you accept the state of your relationship with Oracle, you can start doing something about it. 

Determination: You have lost trust in Oracle Java after four pricing and licensing changes. You’ve taken time over the past five years to process, but you can’t wait any longer. It’s time to determine which Java (OpenJDK) provider is most cost-effective for your organization while still meeting your needs for support, expertise, security, innovation, and trust. 

Accepting Oracle Java prices 

Let’s go back to January 2023. Oracle had just changed its Java pricing and licensing model for the fourth time in four years. Under the new model, your business would have to pay based on the number of employees – including part-time workers and contractors – rather than the Java they use or the named users in your organization. Most organizations under the new model saw their Java bills go up 2x, 5x, even more. Remember how angry we got? 

If you felt frustrated, you were not alone. In the first annual State of Java Survey & Report, released in October 2023, 82% of survey participants said they were concerned about Oracle’s Java pricing change. More than 70% of participants who used Oracle Java said they were considering moving to another Java provider.

In a recent webinar that you can watch on-demand, Shawn Donohue, vice president of Miro Consulting, warned that Oracle will call to try to assess whether to start a Java audit based on your employee count or the Java versions your company is using. Some companies choose to wait until Oracle makes the first move. “If your plan is to sit and wait and do nothing, please do not do that,” he warned. 

The power of determination 

The first thing we should all do is become familiar with the restrictions and nuances of Oracle licenses. The most recent long-term support (LTS) release, JDK 21, is free to use commercially for another three years. The previous LTS, JDK 17, is also free to use commercially, but that changes in September. Some earlier LTS versions like 6 and 7 (and some early releases of 8) are free to use because Oracle no longer offers commercial paid support for them. Use them at your own risk though because they are subject to vulnerabilities that can make them targets for viruses and attacks. 

And then there is the new cost structure. If you’re on the old processor-based cost structure and don’t change your Java use, you may be able to continue on the old model. However, if you change your Java use at all, you become subject to the new employee-based pricing. Learn more in our recent webinar, which you can watch on-demand, What Happens When I Don’t Migrate? 

What are we to do amid all this confusion? My friends, many companies provide Java based on OpenJDK, the Java development kit. Migrating to another Java provider may seem daunting, but in most cases migrating to OpenJDK is straightforward. 

Should we starting moving off Oracle Java? There are five risk factors to consider: 

• Organization’s size  

• Oracle Java’s role in the software estate  

• Java licensing risk  

• Java audit risk  

• Costs to change 

 Let’s let that anger go so we can free ourselves to do something about it. More in our next session.