Solaris, Java certification cost set to rise
The cost of gaining a Solaris or Java certification is set to rise from 1 August, according to a note posted on the Oracle website.
Java Architect, Java Developer, Solaris System Administrator and Solaris Security Administrator certification will all require a "new mandatory course attendance", the note said.
Oracle said that it is making these changes to "bring them in line with Oracle Certification Program's standards for the levels of certification under which they fall". Many certifications already require hands-on attendance.
People already on a course — and those that have already gained certification — that is due to finish before 31 July will not be subject to mandatory course attendance but anyone studying on a course that is due to finish after 1 August will be subject to the new certification rules.
Oracle also said that it currently isn't necessary to complete the training requirements in order to upgrade to new versions of the certifications but that "track requirements do change and are subject to modification".
The note also reiterates that only in-class and online instructor-led courses from Oracle approved universities count towards certification.
"Self Study CD-Rom and Knowledge Centre — including Recorded Web Courses (RWC) — courses are excellent study and reference tools but do not meet the Hands-on Course Requirement for certification."
The new course listings page shows a variety of Solaris and Java certifications that range from around $2000 (£1230) to $4000.
On Thursday, ZDNet UK's sister-site CNET News reported that 46 percent of IT professionals believe that open source projects such as MySQL will "barely hang on" under Oracle ownership and that 42 percent of respondents expect MySQL prices to increase come renewal time.
The reponses also showed that 56 percent of the IT professionals believed that Oracle's lawsuit against Google — for its implantation of the Dalvik virtual machine in the Android operating system — is "bad for Java".
The research was carried out by EnterpriseDB at a JavaOne event in San Francisco in September last year and involved 600 IT professionals.