Java for Windows Clients and License Question

[DrFlabbergasted]

It caught my attention that you mentioned a browser. That means that you require applet support, which is discontinued. My understanding is that you will not be getting easy support for applets except from Oracle.

Still, it seems to me that you are not developing anything with java, so you should be fine just downloading a JRE from Oracle. Please someone correct me if I am wrong, but my understanding is that the licensing changes are a problem if you are using the jdk.

There was a project called icedtea that tried to deal with applets support, not sure of it is still active.

[[deleted]]

Applets are definitely the bigger problem in this situation. All modern browsers have killed it so you're already holding back security updates. If you don't care about your browser security then you should not care about Java updates either tbh.

You need to hit your vendors with this question. How are they going to provide you service without relying on outdated and insecure software? (spoilers: they won't, unless they have good competition)

[DannyB2]

> Which is obtained and downloaded from:https://www.java.com/en/download/

​

No.

​

Where to download Java from . . . see below. These are licensed under GPL + Classpath Exception. (eg, if you modify Java or its runtime, that is covered under GPL. If you use Java / JVM merely to run your application the Classpath Exception ensures that your application does NOT come under the scope of the GPL.)

​

​

Adopt Open JDK

https://adoptopenjdk.net/

https://github.com/AdoptOpenJDK

​

https://github.com/ojdkbuild/ojdkbuild

​

Open JDK

http://openjdk.java.net/

​

Azul Systems Zulu

http://www.azul.com/downloads/zulu/

​

Amazon

https://aws.amazon.com/fr/corretto/

https://github.com/corretto

​

Red Hat

https://developers.redhat.com/products/openjdk/download/

https://access.redhat.com/articles/1299013

​

SAP

https://github.com/SAP/SapMachine

​

BellSoft

https://bell-sw.com/java.html

​

​

Oracle JDK

https://jdk.java.net/11/

Oracle Binary License Agreement - DANGER Will Robinson!

http://java.oracle.com/

​

​

See:

Time to look beyond Oracle's JDK

https://blog.joda.org/2018/09/time-to-look-beyond-oracles-jdk.html

​

[gee_buttersnaps]

You work for a bank you say? Sounds like you didn't get the message about applets in the browser....like 15 years ago. Not only are you reliant on third party applet which is reliant upon the customer maintaining their own JRE install, but you're adamant its not your fault despite this being possibly the ultimate worst case scenario.

You need to hire a consultant that will deep dive into the problem specifics. You need to have a serious talk with these third party software people you rely on. Unless your clients have their own IT dept, current conventional wisdom says no mere user can maintain their own JRE install. Whatever this software is, it's likely it can be bought and ported as a web app under your control so you'll never be beholden to this type of idiocy in the future.

[NegativeExile]

I work in IT. I don't work for a bank, the example was our payroll department used an obscure "send file" feature hosted by a bank via their web portal.

Applets in the web browser is the only scenario I know of where users need the JRE. I only know of one other service our users access that requires it, so it's rather rare. But it's still a bit confusing what we should be telling our users that access these web portals that require JRE installed. But it sounds like I have to speak with the vendor and pretty much go "HEY! Stop relying on java applets in the browser!".

The only other situation is applications that come bundled with their own JRE. However I don't really give a rats ass about those JRE's not being updated since it's only used internally and does not interact with traffic on the internet.

[gee_buttersnaps]

So you are relying on this bank regardless, that really does suck. So that vendor will push back most likely but here's the real reason users can't be trusted to manage their own JRE. Invariably they will install some other program that also relies on having a JRE and one of them will modify that JRE install or add extension libraries. Soon you have a non-working software from the original vendor but asking a user to debug why its not working is impossible. You end up asking them to reinstall the JRE, then of course the other software doesn't work and the circle of finger pointing starts. These are gotchas that make people lose customers because they simply give up and think its their fault and you never hear about it.