Displaying items by tag: Audit

It is difficult to achieve a full understanding of current requirements for Java, as much of the critical information is found only in the fine print around licensing and the cost of support. Following are some common misconceptions about this popular product.

Many people still believe Java is free. This misconception has its roots in the history of its usage and ownership. Java was created by Sun in 1991 and was then released as a free product with the promise of “write once and run anywhere.”  Its premiere as a free product helped Java to become one of the most popular program languages in the world. It came into widespread use also because  it can run on many different platforms, regardless of the operating system (OS) in which it was originally developed.  As a result, Java has been deployed on most devices including servers, desktops, laptops, and mobile devices.  It has also been bundled into many other products, supporting numerical computing, mobile computing, and desktop computing.

Everyone has Java installed in their environment. It is the most popular language deployed with two billion installs. You might not know that Java was created by Sun in 1991 and released as a free product with the promise of “write once and run anywhere.”  This resulted in Java being deployed on a multitude of devices such as servers, desktops, laptops, and mobile devices. Oracle purchased Sun in 2010 and then in January 2019 made Java fee-based (any commercial use became fee-based). What does this mean for you?

Quest is owned by a hedge fund, and private equity firms also have a large stake in Micro Focus. Software audits are essential parts of the revenue for both vendors. Quest and Micro Focus are not Tier 1 vendors like Oracle and Microsoft; however many customers are surprised to find widespread installation and usage of Quest and Micro Focus products in their IT environments.

Quest and Micro Focus will typically hire public accounting companies like Deloitte or KPMG to perform the audits. In some cases, Quest will themselves perform software compliance reviews. Quest audits are very thorough, and they will run their own custom scripts and home-grown tools. In September 2020, The ITAM Review reported that Micro Focus was rated the “most unhelpful vendor” in their survey on 2020 software audits, and they have shown they are willing to take audit cases to court.