Oracle splats 300 vulns in MySQL, Database, Fusion, etc, pours fresh brew of Java SE terms

Oracle today issued its quarterly security updates, patching a total of 296 vulnerabilities across its massive line of enterprise software. The April 2019 update includes fixes for Big Red's flagship Database, Fusion Middleware, and MySQL lines, as well as the introduction of new licensing terms for Java SE. For Java SE, a …

[Anonymous Coward]

At work we switched to OpenJDK rather than Oracle branded Java about a year ago. Nothing to do with licensing - it was simply because we already used OpenJDK on our development machines as it's there out of the box on Debian Linux. The alternative is relying on Oracle's repo on flaky servers that time out all the bloody time or a third party repo like the WebUpd8 one.

[Anonymous Coward]

Repos

Or just apt-mirror to a local box and point there?

[Dabbb]

Which is, surprise, also maintained by no one else but Oracle themselves.

[Anonymous Coward]

If you mean OpenJDK, then that's incorrect. There are a lot of non-Oracle contributors, both commercial and individual. The process for evolving the language is also an open one.

[Dabbb]

What exactly is incorrect, that OpenJDK is maintained by Oracle ?

[Anonymous Coward]

FFS. Oracle may maintain the infrastructure that the OpenJDK project is currently hosted on, but thanks to Sun Microsystems licensing the definitive implementation under the GPL if they f*ck up enough it will end up in a fork just like OpenOffice did.

[Michael Wojcik]

Yes, it's incorrect to claim that OpenJDK is maintained by Oracle.

Red Hat is the OJDK 8 and 11 steward. It's true that was only made official recently, but it's been in progress, and known publicly, for quite some time.

And as others have pointed out, many organizations are maintaining OJDK. Oracle was only one.

[Dan 55]

Looks like if you let Java SE 8 auto update you accept the new licence

It looks like they can go after everyone who's not already in the Java development game and already has a licence for their products, including those who installed Java SE at work just for the browser or just for Eclipse.

So there you go, lots of money for Larry's next yacht as they convert IP addresses that have downloaded Java against a list of bigcorps and start making enquiries as to their licencing status.

[Charlie Clark]

Re: Looks like if you let Java SE 8 auto update you accept the new licence

At least the new licence comes with a handy "uninstall" button. Haven't used Java on my machine for years so bye-bye.

[a_yank_lurker]

Cloud must be rather Cloudy

Shaking down JavaSDK users implies the Minions are desperately looking for new ways to fleece the unfortunates as the old ways must be not doing very well.

[Dabbb]

Re: Cloud must be rather Cloudy

Do you think that product on which Oracle spends millions of dollars a year in developers wages alone should be given to you for free ? Why is that ? Because you don't want or unable to pay ?

Do you expect Cloud hosting, food, housing, whatever, also be given for free to you because of same reasons ?

Do you also work for free ?

Or do you think it would be better for future of Java if Oracle does to it what it does to all projects that do not generate revenue, AKA take it behind the shed and shoot in the head ?

[a_yank_lurker]

Re: Cloud must be rather Cloudy

The Minions are changing the terms in their favor after a couple of decades of relatively friendly terms for the end user by both Sun and them. So the question is not can they legally do this but why are they doing it. Obviously they are trying to make it another income stream. This implies either profits are not so hot somewhere else or possibly sales are declining elsewhere. So adding another revenue stream will give a boost to the bottom line at least for now.

Also, the risk is to drive users away from the JavaSDK to OpenJDK or even worse completely away from the Java ecosystem. Depending on how you are tied to the Java ecosystem you might be able to wean yourself away. More a medium to long term threat than an immediate.

[Dabbb]

Re: Cloud must be rather Cloudy

They're doing it to be able to sustain it's development, Java and Cloud are totally separate streams of revenue and different people working on them, you need be severely retarded to not understand it.

So let me repeat my question - why do you expect getting something that costs Oracle lots of money to maintain and develop for free ?

[a_yank_lurker]

Re: Cloud must be rather Cloudy

I am not particularly perturbed by trying cash in on Java, only noting there has been a change in the terms in the Minions' favor. There has to be reason for the change as JavaSDK for a couple decades was available under much more generous terms from both Sun and the Minions. I care about but implications of why do it now. My question has nothing to do whether they are within their legal rights to monetize Java but what does it mean in terms of the overall financial health of Leisure Suit Larry and His Minions.

Companies facing declining revenue and profits from their core areas often try various short term measures to boost both. Often these measures fail to address the underlying internal problems the company faces as mismanglement is ignoring the real problem. Depending on the severity and nature of the problems a company might linger as semi-profitable entity (Not So Big Blue) or go belly up (numerous retailers). This is a historical pattern and the Minions seem to be in the early stages of this pattern. If I had to guess, Leisure Suit Larry's Minions will end up being a semi-profitable entity like Not So Big Blue is now under Ginny.

[Dabbb]

Re: Cloud must be rather Cloudy

So let me repeat my question - why do you expect getting something that costs Oracle lots of money to maintain and develop for free ?

[JoelLkins]

Re: Cloud must be rather Cloudy

How much money are we talking about? $1k? $100k? $1m?

[a_yank_lurker]

Re: Cloud must be rather Cloudy

Not the issue I was raising, nor am I saying that the Minions cannot charge for support, etc. Nor I am discussing the details of how much they are charging.

[JoelLkins]

Re: Cloud must be rather Cloudy

> They're doing it to be able to sustain it's development...you need be severely retarded to not understand it.

"It is development" what?

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=angry+flower+quick+guide+its+and+it%27s&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images

You need to be severely retarded to not understand it (is).

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Cloud must be rather Cloudy

"implies the Minions are desperately looking for new ways to fleece the unfortunates as the old ways must be not doing very well."

Well who doesn't have Oracle as disinvest these days? Fortunately we realised Java was crapware years ago and already moved everything to .Net so this wont be effecting us.

[Robert Halloran]

It's pretty well known that Ellison originally only wanted the software side of Sun Micro and have the hardware fall to the wayside. McNealy properly insisted on an all-or-none deal. The presumption has always been that Larry wanted to monetize Java, but the availability of Too Many Other Options sank that, especially after Google took the almost-compatible Apache Harmony project and built Android on it. The Oracle v. Google legal battle is Ellison's attempt to get money for it anyway, despite it flying in the face of decades of reverse-engineering practice.

This latest spin on Java licensing is to get enterprises to cough up for support to avoid turning over Java versions twice yearly; Red Hat is undercutting that by offering LTS on OpenJDK running on RHEL or their JBoss middleware, and starting to offer support gigs for same on Wintel. Amazon is doing likewise on AWS with their 'Coretto' offering. Oracle appears to be successfully shooting themselves in the foot, and their Java offering may become irrelevant before long.

[Michael Wojcik]

With Red Hat, AdoptOpenJDK, Azul, Amazon Coretto, and vendor-supplied JDKs/JREs for less-common platforms, there are alternatives to Oracle Java all over the place. There are specific technological issues for some users, but most can move to an OpenJDK distribution with few or no problems.

[Scott 53]

"There are specific technological issues for some users, but most can move to an OpenJDK distribution with few or no problems."

Unless you've painted yourself into a corner by depending on Java Web Start.