Then why is it every time the Oracle reps come around, we are audited by our use of Java, what machines they are on, how many cores, etc as additional line items to our Oracle agreements that we have to fight, every year, to get removed? They state themselves, they charge per-employee, not per core now…

While everything you say sounds true, it’s not free - it’s gunpoint, it’s a lie, and if you’re big enough Oracle will come after you for subscription fees.

RedHat does the same crap. Heaven forbid you run RHEL on RHEL in containers, you’re gonna get fleeced.