Software vendors are determined to recover declining revenues as customers are moving to the cloud. Recently, it has been reported that Oracle has started aggressively auditing customers for Java usage, a software that is widely believed to be free to use. Although this news has not been confirmed by the software provider, it is always smart to be proactively prepared.
Similar to Oracle Databases, Oracle Java has features which, if used, can represent a licensing breach. When it comes to cost, as per Oracle's website:
The install package for Oracle Java SE Advanced, Oracle Java SE Advanced Desktop and Oracle Java SE Suite is the same as the package for Oracle Java SE. What makes the difference are the "commercial features" which can be activated to use the above mentioned products. As soon as this happens, the customers might need to pay for the additional features.
The Oracle Java SE is downloadable for free as per Oracle Binary Code License Agreement (BCLA).
"SUPPLEMENTAL LICENSE TERMS
These Supplemental License Terms add to or modify the terms of the Binary Code License Agreement. These Supplemental Terms shall supersede any inconsistent or conflicting terms in the Oracle Binary Code License Agreement or in any license contained within the Software.
1. COMMERCIAL FEATURES. You may not use the Commercial Features for running Programs, Java applets or applications in your internal business operations or for any commercial or production purpose, or for any purpose other than as set forth in Sections B, C, D and E of these Supplemental Terms. If You want to use the Commercial Features for any purpose other than as permitted in this Agreement, You must obtain a separate license from Oracle.”
* A complete overview of the features can be accessed here.
Important: An Oracle Java SE product is already included when purchasing one of the following licenses:
Metrics and costs (as of the 15th of December 2016)
For tracking and measuring purposes, within the Java package itself, there is one feature called Java Usage Tracker. This is available starting with Java SE 6 update 25. It is important to take note that the JUT is a commercial feature itself.
The collected data refers to:
More details can be accessed here.
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