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Oracle Reinstates Free Time Zone Updates For Java 7
twofishy writes "The internet has been buzzing this week with the news that Oracle has ceased to provide free time zone updates outside of the standard JDK release cycle. However, at the end of yesterday the firm appeared to have a change of heart. 'We never intended for a support contract to be required to keep JDK 7 up to date. TZUpdater was made unavailable on March 8 as part of the End of Public Updates for JDK 6, and as soon as we learned that this affected JDK 7 users we initiated the process of making it available for JDK 7 again.'"
All you people who think Oracle is the embodiment of evil and Larry Ellison is the devil incarnate are... ...absolutely right.
Oracle is really getting on my nerves. Of-course this has been the case for the last 5 years or so, but now it's especially egregious.
Obviously they can't handle Java, they just don't know what to do with it. Suggestion: pull your heads out of your asses and if you can't handle this asset, give it up. Sell it or hand it over to Apache foundation, whatever. The more you DO the worse you LOOK because you are dumbshits.
MY OTHER COMMENTS
"Turn on the damage control. Quick"
We never intended for a support contract to be required to keep JDK 7 up to date
Then provide bloody YUM and APT repos for easy upgrading on RedHat, CentOS and Debian based systems. Even Adobe can manage that for the poxy Flash plugin.
One Raging Asshole Called Larry Ellison.
Lehk228 had it spot on. They tried to get away with it, and failed. Unfortunately, they usually get away with it.
Fuck Oracle.
vos nescitis quicquam, nec cogitatis quia expedit nobis ut unus moriatur homo pro populo et non tota gens pereat.
"as soon as we learned that this affected JDK 7 users we initiated the process of making it available for JDK 7 again."
Translation: we bought this thing, but we don't know how it works.
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
for the first anti-Java rant. Just waitin'....
I have nothing against Java(though the sandbox they use to try to make the JVM safe enough to do web applets in is a total clusterfuck); but this doesn't exactly raise my confidence in Oracle's wise stewardship of the platform...
"So, um, guys, we accidentally deprecated the tool that is required to keep timekeeping functions working properly in our latest JVM release, because we apparently didn't realize that it was still necessary and were just deprecating stuff related to release N-1 more or less at random! Sorry about that. We'll consider checking for interactions next time."
Does anybody actually use java.util.Calendar or the bundled timezones? What a piece of work the built-in time stuff is. I just use Joda-Time which in turn uses the Olson database.
In b4 troll about applets being dead. Turns out Java and its open-source ecosystem is very good for server stuff.
"'We never intended for a support contract to be required to keep JDK 7 up to date."
Bullshit.
Companies make bad decisions all the time. The real question is: would they back off and reinstate the previous state of things? In this case, whether it was intentional or a mistake is less relevant; public backlash prompted them to reconsider (or realize the mistake) and the outcome is eventually positive. Did they lie about what happened? i don't know and frankly I don't care. All I care for is what the outcome is.
...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
Seriously, they have nobody reviewing these things? That scares me more than the idea that it was deliberate.
Meanwhile, what I want isn't actually tzupdater. What I want's a tool that'll automatically pull down, compile and install the latest tzdata package from IANA into all JRE/JDK installations in the standard locations. The compile and install parts are already there, just need the download part and a search for folders to install in.
Joda Time is included as part of JDK 8, see: see http://openjdk.java.net/projects/jdk8/features#150
That is Joda Time.
All I care for is what the outcome is.
While getting a desirable outcome is great, there is also something to be said for not having to call out bullshit again and again. Not saying that this situation qualifies, only that in general, the idea of caring about the reason for a decision makes sense.
How the fuck is the parent offtopic?
They deprecated a tool that was designed to upgrade the timezone database in an existing VM. It's a useful tool, no doubt, but it wasn't required to do timekeeping correctly because you could always download the newest JVM and install that instead.
pray I don’t alter it any further.
You can't just upgrade the JVM on live production server just to update the timezone database. You have to go through rigorous testing to make sure the new JVM behaves correctly for older code. Updating the timezone database is a much simpler concept.
Why does Java need its own tzdata instead of using what the OS provides?
Actually, against all expectations, IMHO Oracle has done a great job at getting Java back to speed. We have something like regular release dates now, JavaFX has been turned into something exciting and usable, the community is being greatly involved, there is a nice, well-made newsletter, the Javadoc has been given a much needed facelift, security is being taken seriously... stuff is happening. It seems to me that Oracle is investing more resources into Java than Sun ever could.
Thanks, Oracle. Java is safe as houses and not at all prone to confusing versions and acronyms when trying to understand what the fuck it is I need to download so I can have this cat face application running on my computer. Is that everything? By jimminy, no way! Java is now controlled by Oracle, and with that comes an eternal assurance that they won't pull a bait and switch to fund Larry's next boat.
Gods bless you, Ellison. Gods fucking bless you!
I'm not sure that Java requires regular release dates at this stage. While I don't mind additions, I do mind compatibility breaking changes in core functionality. I can ignore additions after all. I'd rather have a solid core with supporting libraries released to that core.
The cesspool just got a check and balance.
Companies make bad decisions all the time. The real question is: would they back off and reinstate the previous state of things? In this case, whether it was intentional or a mistake is less relevant; public backlash prompted them to reconsider (or realize the mistake) and the outcome is eventually positive.
That's great..... So, when will HP reinstate OpenVMS? :)
We never intended for a support contract to be required to keep JDK 7 up to date.
But you, Oracle, WILL intend in the future. Just like you intend today for a support contract to be required to keep JDK 6 AND JRE6 up to date.
Even though most Java software is probably built against JRE6, and incompatible with JRE7.
JDK7 is still just a way of pressuring a lot of people to pay for a support contract, because they need their critical security fixes for JRE6, to keep running their applications.
The future of Java is already uncertain... sure, new programs are being developed for JDK7 and newer, but there will be legacy software for decades to come.
You can't just deprecate a bloody programming language and all the software written in it, in the same way, you can obsolete an operating system.
Java is (to me) a neutral issue. What's truly alarming is Oracle's treating of every ecosystem it comes upon as gold to be mined. Not *everything* in the world is a Larry Ellison piggy bank.
Organization? You must be joking..
Just let it go. C#, C++, Javascript and Objective-C are the future.
Well then Java should suit you just fine. Java never implements compatibility breaking changes in core functionality. This is why we have half-assed generics after all.
It actually did with JDK6 at least IIRC. java.sql.xx packages changed interfaces to the extent that old code wouldn't compile. Another is the changed NIO in JDK7. Also the JMX code in JDK 1.2 compared with prior releases. Those are the first ones off the top of my head, and yes, those were all components under development, except for the SQL packages. The JMX component is actually interesting because it was first released as an add on library.
And I agree that generics are less than they might have been. I'm still at a loss why additional metadata dealing with generics properly at runtime wasn't included, which would have made generics fully fleshed out. Yes, I've run into this problem and had to resort to some interesting reflection code to resolve it. If there had only been that 1 piece of metadata, it would have been so much easier. But, it's better have what is there than not have anything at all.
The cesspool just got a check and balance.
'We never intended for a support contract to be required to keep JDK 7 up to date."
'We never intended so much backlash to draw attention to our abusive business practices." FTFY
ironic captcha: "forcibly"