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    Oracle Java Price Hike Could Be an Opportunity for OpenJDK Vendors

    Inflation is increasing the cost of living and doing business around the world. The latest item to increase in price appears to be an Oracle Java SE subscription.

    Java is among the most popular programming languages in the world and is available in several ways. The most recent language release — Java 19 — came out in September 2022. Java 19 boasts new features designed to improve performance.

    Developers and organizations can use the open-source version of Java known as OpenJDK for free without support or get support via a commercial vendor. Oracle, a leader of the Java community, provides a fully supported and maintained version known as Java SE, which carries a subscription cost for organizations.

    Oracle published its latest public pricing list for its Java SE subscriptions on Jan. 23. Among the big changes is replacing the prior Java SE subscription options with a new Java SE Universal subscription plan. According to an Oracle FAQ, "the Java SE Universal Subscription is a simple, low-cost monthly subscription that includes Java SE Licensing and Support for use on Desktops, Servers or Cloud deployments." A potential implication of the new licensing option is that it will cost more for organizations to license Java SE in 2023 than in prior years.

    Planned price changes outlined by the company last week will see firms on the Java SE Universal subscription charged based on their total number of employees, as opposed to only those using the service.  

    The move by Oracle will see companies with 1-999 employees will be charged a minimum of $15 (£12) per employee. For larger organisations with 40,000+ employees, prices will begin at a minimum of $5.25 (£4.26) per head, the company revealed.

    According to Oracle’s updated price guide, this means that a company with 28,000 employees would now be required to pay $6.75 (£5.48) per employee each month.

    These changes would apply to employees spanning both full-time and part-time roles and temporary staff and contractors, resulting in a significant price hike to around $2.2 million (£1.78 million) each year.

    Industry Responses to Oracle Java Price Hike Are Harsh

    Jason Clark, the principal software engineer at observability vendor New Relic, wasn't surprised by Oracle's Java licensing changes.

    "Oracle previously altered their licensing in expensive ways with the release of Java 11," Clark said

    Java 11 was released in 2018 as a Long Term Support (LTS) update and has Oracle premier support until September 2023. Clark noted that findings from the New Relic 2022 State of the Java Ecosystem Report showed that prior licensing changes only strengthened the movement away from Oracle's distributions to other OpenJDK vendors.  

    "It will be interesting to see whether these new terms stick and how much further things will shift off of Oracle's distributions," Clark said.

    OpenJDK Remains Unaffected by Oracle Java Price Hikes

    Vendors competing with Oracle and offering their own supported OpenJDK options could be the net benefactors of any price changes.

    One such vendor is Red Hat, an active contributor to the open-source OpenJDK community. A Red Hat spokesperson said he would encourage users to consider OpenJDK as an alternative to Oracle Java SE if they're looking. 

    Scott Sellers, CEO of Java platform vendor Azul, also sees a potential opportunity for his firm due to Oracle's changes.

    "This is the fourth licensing/pricing change for Oracle Java in the past four years," Sellers said.

    According to Sellers, the new Java SE subscription model can be more expensive for typical enterprises, perhaps by as much as three times.

    "Third-party Java runtimes based on OpenJDK, such as those provided by Azul, are already rapidly increasing in popularity prior to this change," Sellers said. "We see this trend accelerating as customers become frustrated with the uncertainty around Oracle's frequent pricing changes."

    For more such news and updates from the IT industry, subscribe to the ExpertTal blog and follow us on LinkedIn.

    Price Hikes Could Affect Smaller Businesses

    Oracle’s subscription changes have sparked criticism over how smaller firms could be forced to pay significantly more for business-critical software.  

    One scenario outlined by Biggs revealed that a company with 250 employees and a “small Java footprint” - which equated to 20 desktop users and eight Java installed processors – would have paid $3,000 (£2,435) per year under the old pricing model.  

    He said this same business could now incur costs of up to $45,000 (£36,535) per year, equating to a 1,400% price increase.  

    Given the scale of potential price increases, Biggs suggested that the changes could cause major issues for smaller businesses.  

    “What this means for your organization is that regardless of your Java users or server footprint, you now must count every employee, contractor, consultant, and agent to determine your Java subscription bill,” he said.  

    “You are potentially on the hook for a massive subscription fee increase that may have very little benefit to your operation.” 

    Oracle published an FAQ section on its website in an attempt to clarify how new license subscriptions will be priced.  

    The company said that customers using the legacy SE subscription model will be permitted to renew “under their existing terms and metrics”.  

    While this clarification was welcomed, Biggs noted that customers seeking to increase their footprint further down the line might be “forced” into using the new universal subscription model. 

    “This is good news for customers that already have a Java SE subscription based on processor counts and desktop users, but it does not address key concerns or questions,” he said.  

    “This is not good news for Java customers that have not been on the legacy subscription. New customers will be forced into the new Universal Subscription and will likely pay at least double what the previous subscription would have cost.” 

    Rising Software Prices

    News of Oracle’s changes come as businesses globally are forced to contend with surging software costs and increasing rates at major providers.  

    Last year, Oracle revealed it would increase support prices by around 8% for customers to compensate for inflation and rising costs. It also isn’t the only business adjusting rates due to economic instability.  

    Earlier this month, Sage was criticised for changes to its subscription model which required customers with perpetual 15-year licences to switch to a new monthly payments scheme.  

    Some businesses claimed that the move by Sage was an attempt to “strong-arm” them into the new subscription model and was “merely a means to increase the cost” of services.  

    Sage strongly denied the claim, citing security grounds as a key factor behind the move.

    For more such news and updates from the IT industry, subscribe to the ExpertTal blog and follow us on LinkedIn.


     

    About the Author

    Kamal Rastogi is a serial IT entrepreneur with 25 yrs plus experience. Currently his focus area is Data Science business, ERP Consulting, IT Staffing and Experttal.com (Fastest growing US based platform to hire verified / Risk Compliant Expert IT resources from talent rich countries like India, Romania, Philippines etc...directly). His firms service clients like KPMG, Deloitte, EnY, Samsung, Wipro, NCR Corporation etc in India and USA.


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