It's important for developers and systems administrators to either make the transition over to Java SE 7 or to work with Oracle to get updates via the Java SE Support program.

Have you updated to Java SE 7? Along with great features (Fork/Join, NIO, Project Coin), Java SE 7 is being updated and patched regularly. Java SE 7 has been out for over a year and is ready to download. 

The last publicly available release of Oracle JDK 6 is to be released in February, 2013. This means that after 19 February 2013, all new security updates, patches and fixes for Java SE 6 and Java SE 5 will only be available through My Oracle Support and will thus require a commercial license with Oracle.   

Java SE Support for continued access to critical bug fixes and security fixes as well as general maintenance for JDK 6. Additionally, Java SE Advanced and Suite offers superior diagnostics and manageability tools that minimize the costs of deployment, monitoring and maintenance of Java-based IT environments.

The Java SE Support Roadmap reflects an updated timeline for the End of Public Updates for JDK 6. The End of Public Updates date has been extended from November 2012 to February 2013, to allow some more time for the transition to JDK 7. Older releases of Java SE 6 will still be available on the Java SE archive, but will require a commercial license with Oracle for any new security updates, patches and fixes. 

Th End of Public Updates for Java SE 6 will not impact the usage, availability, patching of Java SE 6 used for Fusion Middleware 11g and 12c. The support schedule for Java SE used for and in Fusion Middleware is not impacted by this announcement.

For More Information

Visit the Java SE page on Oracle.com.