Oracle offers two licenses: A "foot gun" license that would cost you tens of thousands of dollars, and a clean license.
> The fact is that if you're using Java these days (or for the past 13 years), you're using Oracle software under a license issued to you by Oracle, regardless of which website you download it from.
That is inaccurate. If third parties build the JDK themselves, then you're only subject to the JDK's license. If you get the binaries from Oracle, you're subject to the JDK license and binary distribution license.
Plus if Oracle's distributions and third parties are the same, but the risks are much lower with third party, then why NOT get it from a third party? You haven't named a downside, and I've explained the upsides.
You cannot, in good faith, argue that downloading from Oracle "supports" Java development, while also arguing that downloading it from Oracle is always free. The only reason it supports Java development is when people screw up and get billed.
> If you get the binaries from Oracle, you're subject to the JDK license and binary distribution license.
No, if you download binaries from Oracle you're subject to the one license that accompanies your chosen binary. The main terms of the non-open-source licensed distribution are the very first thing you see on the download page of that distribution:
JDK 21 binaries are free to use in production and free to redistribute, at no cost, under the Oracle No-Fee Terms and Conditions (NFTC). JDK 21 will receive updates under the NFTC, until September 2026, a year after the release of the next LTS. Subsequent JDK 21 updates will be licensed under the Java SE OTN License (OTN) and production use beyond the limited free grants of the OTN license will require a fee.
There is nothing underhanded here. You can use the open-source license, or you can use this one, but updates for this distribution will be offered to paid support subscribers only after September 2026.
But in any event, if it makes you feel better to download our software from another website, by all means do that!
> You cannot, in good faith, argue that downloading from Oracle "supports" Java development, while also arguing that downloading it from Oracle is always free. The only reason it supports Java development is when people screw up and get billed.
I didn't say that downloading from Oracle supports anything (it doesn't because it's free under both licenses we offer). You pay Oracle for a support subscription and that's how OpenJDK (and the Java SE specification) is funded. Luckily, many of those who choose to buy support prefer buying it from the developers of the software, and that's how we've been able to increase the investment in OpenJDK over the past few years.
> The fact is that if you're using Java these days (or for the past 13 years), you're using Oracle software under a license issued to you by Oracle, regardless of which website you download it from.
That is inaccurate. If third parties build the JDK themselves, then you're only subject to the JDK's license. If you get the binaries from Oracle, you're subject to the JDK license and binary distribution license.
Plus if Oracle's distributions and third parties are the same, but the risks are much lower with third party, then why NOT get it from a third party? You haven't named a downside, and I've explained the upsides.
You cannot, in good faith, argue that downloading from Oracle "supports" Java development, while also arguing that downloading it from Oracle is always free. The only reason it supports Java development is when people screw up and get billed.