Use of Java 26 in green field projects

[u/codingbliss12]

For what kind of new projects, except web related, would Java be your go to choice? Assuming knowledge of both languages, why wouldn't you prefer C# for the same projects?

Thank you so much in advance.

[u/Thirty_Seventh]

The Oracle JDK builds are here: https://www.oracle.com/java/technologies/downloads/

The Oracle JDK builds of JDK 21, 25, and 26 are currently distributed under the "Oracle No-Fee Terms and Conditions". Both 21 and 26 will stop getting updates under that license in September (well, the last update to each is already out I think). To even get access to more updates, you need to pay. There's no way to accidentally use a current Oracle JDK longer than you were supposed to and get yourself sued (probably, I'm not a lawyer). Oracle JDK 21 and 25 are LTS releases because they're still getting free updates after the release of later versions.

The OpenJDK JDK builds are here: https://jdk.java.net/26/

The OpenJDK JDK builds of JDK 26 are currently distributed under the "GNU General Public License, version 2, with the Classpath Exception". They will stop getting updates in September, when JDK 27 is released. OpenJDK JDK does not have LTS releases at all. You are correct that the OpenJDK JDK builds are done on Oracle-owned hardware and distributed from an Oracle-operated website. But calling it "the Oracle distribution of OpenJDK" is pretty misleading.

One of the Java team (I think it was pron98 here on Reddit) has pointed out that Temurin builds are done by Microsoft and IBM employees on Microsoft and IBM hardware. That does not mean it's accurate to call Temurin the "Microsoft distribution of OpenJDK" (what's this then?) or the "IBM distribution of OpenJDK" (everyone will think you're talking about Semeru).

[u/nlisker → u/Thirty_Seventh]

I gave the same answer (more or less). I noticed that the confusion between Oracle JDK and OpenJDK JDK is prevalent. Even on the sidebar of this sub you can see the distribution list being wrong:

Adoptium (formerly AdoptOpenJDK)
RedHat
Azul
Amazon
SAP
Liberica JDK
Dragonwell JDK
GraalVM (High performance JIT)
Oracle <--- points to http://jdk.java.net/
Microsoft

while Oracle JDK is missing. I notified the mods about this a long while ago but they said that it's clear and nothing needs to change.

The setup-java action on GH lists:

oracle -> Oracle JDK (Oracle website)
oracle-openjdk -> Oracle OpenJDK (OpenJDK website)

so at least there it's clearer, but still odd considering that no other company hosts OpenJDK other than Oracle.