Beware that latest Oracle JDK installers will REMOVE older JDK installs of that version

Interesting thought, Jeff. And while some may think I go too far in my projection of possibilities and addressing them "ahead of time" in my writing, that's one that indeed never crossed my mind. :-)

But sure, people can have all kinds of expectations, so thanks for heading off that one.

Yep, and as for which option may be "better" that will indeed vary among people, orgs, and deployments. Some may have tended to favor the installer for whatever reason, or mere habit. And some may well want to reconsider that choice, while still others may appreciate the change. :-)

In any case, at least with the heads-up, I hope more people can be prepared. :-)

Yep, Tim. Pros and cons to the different options. Nice to have choices.

To @anonymous, the answer is no (the JVM installer for Java 17 will not remove installs of Java 8 or 11). I understand why you might have the question, but please note how I tried to clarify that/avoid confusion about it in the title ("Beware that latest Oracle JDK installers will REMOVE older JDK installs of that version"). Note I said "that version".

I elaborated still further in the first paragraph, that "the new Oracle jdk installer WILL REMOVE any previous updates of that JVM version that were created by previous JDK installers of that same major version". Again, note "that version".

I even repeated it in the first tldr bullet point, and still later. :-) I really tried to avoid confusion on that point, so it's sad to find somehow it was not enough. But sincere intent can be lost in a sea of words. I hope if anyone else may have the question, this response to you should help.

To be clear, the recent change in JVM installers (discussed here) will NOT cause them to remove older installs of OTHER versions of the JVM, only other installs of THAT version (and even then only those that were implemented using the JVM installer for that version--not those implemented using the JVM's available "zip" install option.)

But let me know if you think I should offer some more specific phrase in the text. I ask that sincerely.

Eric, thanks so much. I'd indeed missed that news, which is first partly because I find few people still running Java 8 (who are also keeping it updated). Good for you! :-)

But second, even someone who read the technote for the update (as I did, when that update came out in July 2023) could be forgiven for not noticing news of this change. It's only mentioned in passing way down the note--and indicated in dealing with a possible error that could result, as if they felt folks already knew the change would be happening in that update ("the July 2023 CPU" as it refers to itself) at:
https://www.oracle.c...

Without more info there, it's also unclear if that was a change only for the Windows installer or also Linux and MacOS. Anyone know yet?

I'll add that I searched that technote page for all references to "install" (there were over 30),but this was the only one suggesting this change in behavior. That sure seems odd.

So again, thanks. I'll tweak the post to mention this, and I'll point to these comments for more news that may come along.