Java 25, like Java 21 before it, will be widely mislabeled as an 'LTS version' — but that framing is categorically wrong. The distinction matters: 'Java' and 'JDK' in general cannot have LTS status; only specific vendor distributions (e.g., Oracle JDK 25) can offer long-term support or maintenance. OpenJDK develops the reference implementation without any LTS planning, and vendors independently decide which versions to maintain and for how long. The confusion between 'support' (paid, contractual) and 'updates/maintenance' (free patches) further muddies the picture. Accurate language matters because misunderstanding the ecosystem can lead to poor JDK selection decisions and leaves the community vulnerable to bad-faith actors exploiting the gap between perception and reality.
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