Its bait and switch-- thats what makes it slimy. With Sun at helm, you never had to wonder if your JVM was intentionally crippled.
I stayed with Java because it was write once run everywhere (on the server side). Oracle is making it into write once, renew your license annually on every platform for every CPU.
Oracle's JRockit is older than the OpenJDK. All they have announced is that their merging the two codebases, and that the next version of Oracle's proprietary JVM will be based off the result. In no way does that resemble a bait and switch.
"Messinger didn't explain how the premium JVM would differ to the free version, but the premium edition will likely see performance tuning and tie-ins to Oracle's middleware."
If one day there are two versions of the JVM based on the same core, and one has more features than the other, the non-premium version will be perceived as crippled. Much depends of course on the kind of features affected. Tie-ins to Oracle middleware would not be a problem. Optimizations appearing first in the premium version before they eventually come to the open version would be a huge problem.
But I think Oracle's strategy is not to cripple the open version so much that it's really worse. I think they're trying to create a perception with big customers that they are on the safe side if they make payments to Oracle. So Oracle is effectively creating an SKU for the kind of people who also buy their other overpriced enterprise stuff. Smart move on Oracle's part, at least in the short run.
It has the potential to kill Java in the longer run though.
I stayed with Java because it was write once run everywhere (on the server side). Oracle is making it into write once, renew your license annually on every platform for every CPU.