Isn't this heavily misleading? This still seems like the charges for continuing to use old versions of Java <= 8. The article doesn't confirm or deny that staying on the latest version remains free.
A lot. For all practical purposes, it very hard to get projects to move to big version numbers in large enterprises.
Its not as simple as just recompiling code. Something like the entire ecosystem has to move, you will have plenty of compatibility problems, code breakage and catch-22 situations.
This is not good news for Java.
Also a lot of 'Architects' will be forced to think if they will be made to pay for Java later. Hence should they use something else to build their latest projects?
Either way, if it comes to a point where you have to pay for something like using a programming language. Pay whatever you have to now. But start moving to something other tech over time.
You don’t have to pay for using Java. You have to pay for continued support for a specific Java version.
You can even continue using JDK 8 for free indefinitely. Just don’t expect any future updates from Oracle, security or otherwise.
If you absolutely have to use JDK 8 another option is OpenJDK, which unlike Oracle’s JDK probably will continue receiving updates even for version 8.
I also don’t see why one shouldn’t use Java for new projects. With its huge ecosystem and modern toolsets such as Spring Boot Java is a highly viable option for developing new applications.