Java Licensing, what they don’t want you to know or just plain forgot to tell you

Frankly it’s a difficult subject, but as we’ve pointed out before that Oracle’s Subscription License per employee for Java is one of the most radical license changes seen by any software vendor in years. Businesses and Government are being asked to pay multi-million-dollar license agreements if they use it or not.

So how did we get here, it’s pretty well documented, but the main points of interest are: Oracle buys Sun, inherits Java, finds 100’s of bugs, fixes them, starts charging either by processor or named user basis, then gets radical by charging for all employees.

Let’s try and summarise when you have to license Oracle Java in a few words. Some use of the JDK is free some not, OCI use free, JRE you pay for it for specific versions, free if used for a licensed Schedule A or B Products. Let’s add a couple of caveats: Your responsibility to license it if your 3rd Party ISV Java app does not come with licensed Java and don’t forget there are a whole load of versions that Oracle built to fix problems which will also need a license.?

Here’s the first thing they don’t want you to know: if you succumbed to the deal, they offered in terms of buying the Processor or Named User Plus (NUP) Licenses, then you should be able to buy this license type go forwards, our recommendation is not to move to an Unlimited License Agreement (ULA), unless of course you want deploy Java everywhere then go for it. Staying on Processor and NUP is going to be cheaper as you only have to license what you use. However, you still need to do rigorous inventory of your estate to determine your license requirements.

Now for something they forgot to tell you, even if you are on a ULA, you still have options, depending on what you signed up for, commonly these licenses are really an all-you-can-eat for a term, 3 or 5 years. So not really a ULA as Oracle would define it for their Database products, when you exit the ULA, you get to keep the licenses you deployed. Basically, it’s a term or rental license, which aren’t great for cost control, and probably break some accounting rules. Again, we would advise that you perform decent inventory to see where you’re really are using it. For two reasons, if you want to exit the ULA you’re going to have to rip and replace, and you want to be able to identify your Schedule B products.

Maybe they also forgot to tell you about the Schedule A and B products: What are Schedule A and B Products, here’s a link click-me. Basically, a list of Oracle Products you can use for free, on the server and client side. Like Oracle e-Business Suite, Oracle Forms, Oracle Weblogic, and in fact there plenty of other products that include Java by rights of other products. We have compiled a nice list, get in touch and we’ll share if you’re an end-user.

So, what happens if my ISV sold me an app with Java included, surely, they have supplied a license for me to use it commercially? Well unfortunately that isn’t always the case, we have compiled another list of 500 ISV Java apps and what the ISV suggests you do, and in some cases not. I guess can you tell, we like a good list, again feel free to contact me if you’re an end user.? Most have gone down the OpenJDK route, but it’s still something you will need to check, so at the risk of repeating things, you need a decent inventory of where your Oracle Java is.

You’ve convinced me, how do get decent inventory? As you’ve probably gathered, we’ve got a tool for that. So, what’s so different about our tool. ?It’s agentless, quick to deploy, verified by Oracle so you know the data you need is accurate. JSE-License works On Windows, Sun IBM and Linux, finds any commercial features in use and checks for processes running Java. Check out our Java Licensing site here click-me.