You’re right. This is just another money grab from greedy Larry E. who believes that all software should be revenue producing on his mind-road to be richer than Bill Gates (good luck with that one, Larry).
Nobody I know would pay for the Java subscription.
Yet, this Java money grab will fail just like his attempted MySQL money grab failed (thank you, MariaDB) and his OpenOffice money grab failed.
Open Source!
Hi @dvaklyes
Java became such a popular programming language because the JDK was free. It has a huge community because it is open source. Unfortunately, Oracles terms are not fully clear about ‘non commercial use’.
However, companies using FM can steer clear by using the free alternatives available.
Yep, this whole topic is really a “nothing burger”.
Evey Java dev knows to just use the free API and move on. 
It looks like the openJDK is no longer maintained. Both are free, but chances are if something requires a change (from the security angle for instance), the folks at Amazon will take their branch further. For openJDK, I'm not so sure. Nick Ciske from Luminfire did a blog post about this, covering the topic in more details obviously.
I don't have a strong opinion on this, but if it can help others make a choice between those 2 options, I felt it was worth sharing.
Btw, when no WD nor CWP are required, there is no need at all for xxDK on the system.
The latest maintained version of the openJDK is here: “https://jdk.java.net/12/”
The last update was just a couple weeks ago. Since Oracle is on a faster release schedule now, a version of Java doesn’t hang around for more than a year anymore.
Amazon maintains Corretto also including the now-ancient version 8.
Version 13 of Java is coming soon.
Here’s the early release URL for Java 13: JDK 13 Early-Access Builds
FMS 18 still stuck on version 8?
LOL
If v8 provides all it takes, why not?
What concerns me is that all notable software vendors are now hooked on 12 months release schedules. Take a software’s dependency on other vendor’s softwares, regression issues and other impediments, how will we receive stable and reliable software at the production end?
A very good question Torsten. Must admit, getting totally confused as to what is being maintained and what isn’t. An argument to use FileMaker is so that we don’t have to go and find lots of different software products to achieve our goals. However, they are obviously also reliant on Apple, Microsoft, Linux (on their cloud) and obviously Java.
Anyone remembering the pre-web based admin console and Java nightmare, will be a tad nervous about this situation.
I’ve let my feelings known about the crazy annual upgrade cycle many times before and the impact this has on cost of ownership. I’m slightly optimistic that Microsoft have abandoned this with Office 365 and they just keep adding features as they become ready. Everyone is on an annual license, so there is no marketing gain for the next v93 or whatever and we finally get some continuity, a word that doesn’t seem to be within Apple’s dictionary.
Perhaps for once, someone will follow Microsoft’s lead and not always Apple’s (still a big Apple hardware/software fan, but they could still learn a lot from Microsoft).
Well, at some point, v8 will no longer be maintained.
To your other point, Java 8 was a HUGE release with Lambdas, an entirely new streaming API, as well as a new date API and more.
Later releases are not that big to fit the new release schedule. I actually like this better as it took me a long while to learn all the Java 8 new features.
However, Java, like Python, and all other languages, gets regular updates.
Regardless of the stories I’ve heard about Java problems with plug-ins and with FMS, in production, I’ve never had an issue with Java in an enterprise application or in a more consumer-oriented, non-programmer application like FMP.
Take a breath. Relax.
Agree, major releases are more prone to errors than minor releases and are therefore easier to handle.
While it is true that minor releases fit bette into a schedule than major releases, it is the daisy-chaining together with short product live cycles that produces issues. A good example is the catch-me-if-you-can between MacOS and FM. At the end of that chain is the final product. For that final product the timespan between just released and already out of date became quite short.
I’ve never had an issue with any of my clients or personal software which use Java or Python.
Lots of things are possible, but in my experience just don’t happen. You do need people who understand software management and configuration management, however.
As a developer, I’m sometimes annoyed that a method I’m using has now been deprecated. But it’s good to see that the replacement is actually better.
A case in point was the Nashorn capability new in Java 8 (another HUGE capability added to this monstrous Java 8 release). That API let you run JavaScript using an “eval()” method right in your Java code (after instantiating the required objects first, of course). However, Nashorn is now on its way out – deprecated (though any code written using it would still run on the same JDK and several future ones).
Now, we have GraalVM which is a huge improvement. Graal lets you not only run JavaScript, but R, C++, and other languages too. Plus, you can now create standalone executables (if you want) so no JDK/JRE is even required for the client. Creating those executables (platform dependent) means you give up the byte-code approach but it’s just another cool option.
And, unlike with FMP, I’ve never, ever, had an error or outright problem with Java, Python, or C++.
It’s impossible to keep up. I think we can all agree on that.
We have had major issues with java / filemaker server admin console..
I’m assuming you reported those as I would fault FMI for making things (in general, configuration wise) too complicated and expecting the user to jump through too many hoops.
we’ve been just unable to use the admin console, older versions of fms were critical - if there was a java update installed, that could make the console unavailable
Nope, there was no need to report to FMI. The rule was simple, allow your computer to automatically update Java and it broke the admin console. Only solution was to find the matching Java version for that particular release of FileMaker Server and replace the newly installed Java with it.
I was going to say ‘thankfully those days are long behind us’, but now I’m not so sure.
Am I misinterpreting the above references to the openJDK, that FileMaker are recommending as an alternative to the Oracle product but it isn’t being maintained and people are installing Corretto (sounds like an ice cream) that hasn’t been recommended by FileMaker?
As you can see, I am not a Java developer.
The openJDK is being maintained as my link above showed. The current Java version, 12, had an openjdk update a couple weeks ago. Amazon, if you trust them, also maintains Corretto as you noted.
What you’re referring to is the JRE which gets updated from time to time. Updates should absolutely not break FMS as installs are backward compatible. Again, I fault FMI for not handling their own dependencies – especially considering its outlandish cost relative to other products at this level. To me, FMS is a brittle product which is easy to break. That’s not a Java issue.
Thanks for that. So to stand any chance of support if needed from FMI, we should install the OpenJDK rather than Corretto, unless you’re totally comfortable with Java?
Thank You for clarification!
I guess I’m just saying (my opinion) that since FMI dumps Java configuration in your lap and doesn’t do it themselves (as I would expect), there’s an implied level of expertise.
Corretto is a much simpler install and configuration. My comment about trusting Amazon is just that you can’t be sure what they might do for “corporate goals”.
I’ve had an FMS 17 and FMS 18 development server for years and never had an issue.
Welcome.