VPDeskLauncher

Oracle’s policy is evolving

Upcoming evolutions linked to Oracle’s new policies regarding Java Runtime Environment, Java Web Start, JavaFX, and maintenance – applicable starting January 2019.

AND AFTER 2018?

Oracle, the editor of Java, will no longer be providing desktop Java Runtime Environment (JRE) free of charge starting in January 2019. The last publicly available desktop JRE will be JAVA 8. Maintenance for Java 8, which was also previously provided free of charge by Oracle, will be discontinued in January 2019. Corrective patches (security or compatibility updates) for Java 8 will still be made available to organizations that opt for paid maintenance (2.50$ per month per workstation). Though this is not mandatory, organizations that plan to keep running Java 8 may want to consider subscribing to Oracle’s maintenance plan for Java 8 to ensure they benefit from security and compatibility updates of Java.

JAVA 11, the newer version of the JRE, is available for free since September 25th, 2018. Java Web Start and JavaFX, two technologies that were included in Java 8 and are used by Visual Planning, are no longer part of Java 11.

WHAT ARE THE IMPACTS FOR VISUAL PLANNING?

For existing users that are already running Java 8 on client workstations, no impact is foreseen. Stilog will be providing alternative options for users who do not want to use Java 8 anymore.

In fact, in its current implementation, Visual Planning needs Java Web Start and JavaFX to run properly. Therefore, you cannot launch existing versions of Visual Planning, such as Visual Planning 6 build 181107 and earlier on a workstation running Java 11.

To remove the need for JAVA on client workstations, Stilog will be publishing a launcher for Visual Planning called “VPDeskLauncher”. VPDeskLauncher does not depend on a third-party desktop JRE. This new launcher will integrate and package OpenJDK. It is a secured, open source JRE. Of course it is fully compatible with Visual Planning .

WHAT DOES IT CHANGE FOR THE USER?

In practice, with this new launcher, Visual Planning users will no longer need to install and run Java on client workstations. OpenJDK is a stable open source technology, supported by a very wide and active community of developers. The frequent updates issued by third party providers ensure upward compatibility and security.

VPDeskLauncher is available right now and is free of charge for all customers with a valid maintenance or hosting contract. It runs in fact as an installation package for Windows (.msi file). Therefore, it will facilitate mass deployment of Visual Planning on Windows operating systems. For MacOS likewise, it is available as a mountable disk image (.dmg file). Stilog also intends to make VPDeskLauncher available on Microsoft Store and Apple’s App Store.

If you have questions or are unsure of how this affects your use of Visual Planning, feel free to write to us at sales@stilog.com. You call us also at +33 (0)1 47 29 99 69 (Europe) / (855) 589-9800 (United States).