Quite a few websites and blogs were discussing the Oracle public end of life announcement for Java 7, which seems too soon to me, but it has been out for a long time. At work we use a mix of Java 6 and 7 but force everything to compile at Java 6 level because clients are reluctant to upgrade JDKs. Oracle Java SE Support Roadmap So moving to the interesting Java 8, which if possible for your environment, offers many new features, it is possibly the largest update to the JDK/JVM since Java 5? If stuck on Java 6 or 7, then maybe look into the OpenJDK options: Zulu®: Multi-platform Certified OpenJDK™ http://www.azulsystems.com/products/zulu