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Comment by jhh | Hacker News Reader

they did fairly well with Java

I could definitely imagine Java in better hands.

I can't think of many other languages/frameworks where one of the worst places to install it is from the primary sponsor/maintainer.

Java could be in better hands. Maybe will be, one day, when Oracle finally ends up fighting the organisational fire that has started in their debt pile.

That's odd; I've only heard good things about the Java team at Oracle. Is there a public article or insider knowledge that differs?

I mean this more generally, beyond that team. Oracle have used their ownership of Java as a thumping great cudgel before, and my own feeling is that the Google lawsuit basically ended Java’s appeal as a language on which others would risk any kind of innovation. A more nuanced approach might have preserved its relevance.

A few years ago, I was itching to either brush up on Java (which I hadn't used since around v1.8) or learn a new one. (eg Golang, Rust, etc) In light of Oracle owning Java, I suspected it would face a long, slow decline and would eventually fade into Perl-like obscurity and decided to spend my time elsewhere. Also, I didn't want their nagging runtime updater on my system anymore.

Haven't regretted that decision at all and it seems to be playing out about how I expected. (Except LLMs make rewrites into other languages more tractable so the slow decline of Java may accelerate)

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