My main use case for OpenJDK Java is developing enterprise-level back-end applications. I used Java, particularly with Spring Boot frameworks, to build secure and high-performance REST APIs. Java is also my go-to language for integrating it with databases like Oracle and MySQL and handling message systems such as Kafka and RabbitMQ, as well as implementing validation frameworks.

In my recent role, I developed and maintained OpenJDK Java Spring Boot microservices for an enterprise compliance and sanctions platform using OpenJDK Java as the runtime environment for all our back-end services to ensure open-source compatibility and ease of deployment. My responsibilities included designing the REST APIs, implementing the business validation frameworks, and integrating with Oracle databases and Kafka systems. The application handled critical workflows like watchlist onboarding and attestation and required high reliability and scalability, which OpenJDK Java provided.

In addition to the back-end, I used OpenJDK Java for implementing automated testing frameworks such as JUnit and Selenium to ensure code quality and reliability. I appreciate OpenJDK Java's regular updates and security patches, which helped maintain compliance and stability in production environments.

Out of those features, I rely mostly on OpenJDK Java's strong support for multithreading and concurrency in my day-to-day work. I often build back-end microservices that need to handle multiple requests simultaneously and process large volumes of data efficiently. OpenJDK Java's concurrency features, like the executor framework and synchronized collections, help me design scalable and responsive applications.

Using OpenJDK Java has impacted my organization positively. It has significantly improved productivity by providing a stable and mature platform. The rich set of libraries and frameworks like Spring Boot and Hibernate accelerates development and reduces the time needed.

By leveraging these OpenJDK Java frameworks and libraries, we reduced our development time by approximately twenty-five percent, allowing us to deliver features faster, and the automated memory management and troubleshooting have contributed to a fifteen percent reduction in production incidents and downtime.

The best features OpenJDK Java offers include robust cross-platform compatibility allowing applications to run seamlessly on different operating systems, strong memory management and garbage collection. There are rich standard libraries and APIs for networking, excellent support for multithreading, regular updates and security patches, wide ecosystem support including frameworks like Spring Boot, and strong backward compatibility, making it easier to maintain, along with an active community and extensive documentation.

Its cross-platform compatibility has reduced infrastructure costs as applications can be deployed on various operating systems without major changes. OpenJDK Java's strong memory management and garbage collection have contributed to system reliability, minimizing downtime and performance issues.

OpenJDK Java can be improved in startup time and memory footprint, especially for microservices and cloud-native applications where lightweight containers are preferred. Enhancing native integration and support for modern deployment models like serverless and containerized environments would make OpenJDK Java even more competitive. Simplifying the module system and improving the documentation could help reduce the learning curve for new developers. Continued investment in performance optimizations, especially for garbage collection and low-latency applications, would benefit high-throughput systems. Expanding the ecosystem of tools for monitoring, profiling, and debugging OpenJDK Java applications in distributed environments would further support enterprise adoption.

Improving the onboarding experience for new developers by providing more interactive tutorials, better documentation, and enhancing IDE integration with more out-of-the-box tools for code analysis is necessary. Increasing the visibility and accessibility of community-driven resources would also be beneficial.

I have been using OpenJDK Java for seven years, starting from the early stages of my career. I have used various distributions of OpenJDK Java. In my recent years, it has become more of a standard in many of our enterprise environments.

I would advise others looking into using OpenJDK Java to take advantage of it and regularly update to the latest release, mainly to benefit from security patches. Also evaluate your application's compatibility with the specific version planned for use and leverage strong community support and extensive documentation available for troubleshooting and best practices. It is wise to integrate automated testing and CI/CD pipelines to ensure smooth deployments and maintain code quality.

OpenJDK Java has a very reliable and robust platform, and its open-source model encourages innovation and transparency. The flexibility to deploy OpenJDK Java across different environments, on-premise, cloud, or containers makes it a versatile choice. I would rate this product a ten out of ten.

OpenJDK Java is used for Spring Boot APIs written using versions 21 to 24. A specific example of how OpenJDK Java is used with those Spring Boot APIs is that it is built on top of OpenJDK, so it is used to compile and run the APIs.

The best feature OpenJDK Java offers is that it is free software with no licensing fees.

The free licensing aspect helps the organization by impacting the budget and helping save on costs.

OpenJDK Java has positively impacted the organization because, since Java was taken over by Oracle, it became very difficult to secure the license, which was heavy on the cost. OpenJDK Java helped to save on that, and it is very similar to the Oracle JDK.

Almost a million dollars in cost savings have been realized since switching to OpenJDK Java.

OpenJDK Java performs well overall. However, OpenJDK Java could be improved in terms of memory performance, and threads could be better optimized.

OpenJDK Java has been in use for 10 years.

OpenJDK Java is stable.

No scalability issues have been observed with OpenJDK Java; it scales very well.

The customer support for OpenJDK Java is very good with no problems.

Before using OpenJDK Java, Oracle Java was used, but the switch was necessary because of the licensing cost.

OpenJDK Java was purchased through the AWS Marketplace.

A return on investment has been realized, specifically in terms of money saved and time saved.

Approximately two hours daily have been saved in terms of maintenance since implementing OpenJDK Java, and in terms of project estimation, about four to six story points are saved.

The experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing has been very positive; the licensing was free, and the cost was negligible.

Before choosing OpenJDK Java, Java was required, so OpenJDK Java was the only other option available.

OpenJDK Java is license-free for this use case.

OpenJDK Java is very performant, and memory issues are not commonly observed.

The advice to others looking into using OpenJDK Java is that if there is a need to save on the licensing cost and benefit from the advantages of Oracle Java, OpenJDK Java is recommended. This review has been rated 10 out of 10.