[erl]

While Java 8 is the only version that is freely supported from Oracle, it is still possible to buy commercial support for older versions of Oracle's Java platform.

The speed at which they stop freely supporting older versions feels much like a way to squeeze big, slow moving organizations for support contracts.

[yuhong]

Indeed, see http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/eol-135779.html

[pjmlp]

I appreciate that, even with this "fast" pace I still need to target Java 7, and I am aware of projects in even older versions.