UK unis to cough up to £10M on Java to keep Oracle off their backs

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Oracle Java Licensing and Audit Tactics

  • Many commenters describe Oracle software (Java and DB) as a business risk: easy to unintentionally fall into non‑compliance, then face large “gotcha” bills.
  • Stories include threats of multi‑million fines over a few rogue Java installs, with very short remediation windows.
  • Several see the model as: make “free” downloads easy, hide complex licensing, then audit and extract money later. Others argue this is just standard conditional licensing, not unique to Oracle.
  • There’s debate over how far Oracle can really go: some stress that OpenJDK is free and plentiful, so customers can and should switch rather than complain.

Why Universities Are Vulnerable

  • Universities reportedly get hit because:
    • Staff, students, and visiting researchers freely download Oracle Java on campus networks.
    • Third‑party academic tools silently bundle Oracle JDK/JRE.
    • Poor asset tracking and fragmented purchasing create “open‑ended liability.”
  • Some say universities should never have been using Oracle Java or should have properly licensed it from the start; others blame Oracle for predatory behavior.
  • A minority suggests universities “set a moral standard” by refusing to pay Oracle at all, or even by “stealing and getting away with it” (not widely endorsed).

Mitigations: OpenJDK and Blocking Oracle

  • Many orgs have migrated to Amazon Corretto, Eclipse Temurin, Red Hat builds, or other OpenJDK distributions.
  • Some IT departments block or redirect Oracle domains and Java download pages to explanations and alternative links.
  • There’s discussion of specific legacy products (e.g., storage admin GUIs) that explicitly require Oracle Java, complicating full migration.

Education, Language Choice, and Corporate Control

  • Several note the irony: universities helped mainstream Java in the Sun era and now are “punished” by Oracle’s licensing.
  • Strong thread on what languages universities should teach:
    • Some argue for only “libre/open standard” languages with multiple implementations (Python, Haskell, Lisps).
    • Others defend Go as acceptable despite Google’s control, while some reject any corporately steered language for core curricula.
  • Broader lesson proposed: this case should be used in CS and law/ethics classes to show why stack and vendor choices matter long term.