Microsoft Build of OpenJDK vs. Oracle Java Platform, Micro Edition vs. Oracle Java SE

I think of a few areas when looking at Microsoft Build of OpenJDK. The first is what is your cost to run for your intended product or project, if you are strapped and fall within the supported areas of Microsoft Build of OpenJDK then it's a no brainer, Microsoft Build of OpenJDK is for you! Lastly, I think of support in the respect to running into a wall and needing a fix. It can take a while for open source tools to produce fixes that the community warrants, so again if you aren't strapped for time and haven't run into a wall and could afford to wait for fixes or relevant patches then again Microsoft Build of OpenJDK is for you. Not everyone has this luxury, but these are a few areas to think about.

Incentivized

Oracle Java SE is well suited to long-running applications (e.g. servers). Java Swing (UI toolkit) is now rather outdated, lacking support for modern UI features. JavaFX, the potential replacement for Swing, has now been separated out of Java core. Ideally, there would be a path to migrate a large application incrementally from Swing to JavaFX, but due to different threading models and other aspects, it is difficult. At this point, it is probably better to use an embedded web browser (e.g. JxBrowser) to provide a modern UI in HTML/Javascript and keep just the business logic in Java.

Incentivized

• Support for the Java libraries that are common use today
• Support for various architecture environments - Mac, Windows, Linux, etc...
• Provides a low cost or rather no cost alternative

Incentivized

• Plenty support built into the tool and IDE like Maven, Ant, Eclipse, IntelliJ.
• Strong object-orientation language and clear project structure.
• Wrapper underlines hardware and memory management so the developers can focus on business and implementation.
• It offers a huge library and framework support from third-parties and the community.

Incentivized

• Since it's open source, enterprise support is less than as if you are running paid like an Oracle JDK.
• Performance is improving and is I would say on par with paid solutions, this could improve to help with growth.
• Stability will happen over time with more contributions and fixes

Incentivized

• Commercial Licensing in 2019. Oracle will charge commercial organizations using Java SE for upgrading to the latest bug fixes and updates. Organizations will now need to either limit their implementation of Java SE or may need to drop it altogether.
• Slow Performance. Due to the all of the abstraction of the JVM, Java SE programs take much more resources to compile and run compared to Python.
• Poor UI appearance on all of the major GUI libraries (Swing, SWT, etc.). Through Android Studio, it is easy to get a native look/feel for Java apps, but when it comes to desktops, the UI is far from acceptable (does not mimic the native OS's look/feel at all).

Incentivized

Oracle Java SE provides the new features along with timely security patches. New features like Record patterns and pattern matching for switches are very useful. With every new release of Java, it is getting better. Sequenced collections are also an interesting feature added to Java. With all these new features, backward compatibility is also maintained.

Incentivized

Java is such a mature product at this point that there is little support from the vendor that is needed. Various sources on the internet, and especially StackOverflow, provide a wealth of knowledge and advice. Areas that may benefit from support is when dealing with complex multithreading issues and security libraries.

Incentivized

Microsoft Build of OpenJDK stacks up against Oracle JDK (paid) very well. From both a performance, implementation, library support, and collaboration aspect.

Incentivized

Chose to go with Java instead of Python or C++ due to the expertise on the ground with the technology, for its ease of integration with our heterogeneous setup of production servers, and for the third party library support which we've found was able to address some challenging aspects of our business problem.

Incentivized

• No cost alternative to paid JDK platforms
• Performance is that of paid JDK platforms in my opinion
• Community contribution is a bonus for contributed code and open collaboration

Incentivized

• The different versions make it harder to work with other companies where some use newer versions while some use older versions, costing time to make them compatible.
• Licenses are getting to be costly, forcing us to consider OpenJDK as an alternative.
• New features take time to learn. When someone starts using them, everyone has to take time to learn.

Incentivized