By the time Java 7 came out, you could easily use a single-socket multi-core processor for workloads where you'd have used a dual or quad socket before. It makes sense that the pricing was adjusted to match the new reality.
> When licensing Oracle programs with Standard Edition One, Standard Edition 2 or Standard Edition in the product name (with the exception of WebCenter Enterprise Capture Standard Edition, Java SE Subscription, Java SE Support, Java SE Advanced, and Java SE Suite), a processor is counted equivalent to an occupied socket; however, in the case of multi-chip modules, each chip in the multi-chip module is counted as one occupied socket.
It doesn't get any clearer than that - it is per core. So that's significantly increased cost for pretty much most enterprise users with VMWare and high core count Xeons.
But whatever the definition of a processor unit is, it didn't change. The prices both before and after the change are for the same unit.
Umm yeah but what did change is lots of multi-core processors with increasing core count appeared and not changing the definition of processor unit to count each core as a processor means more money to Oracle. None of what you keep saying contradicts what I said - it's still a lot of money and people are not wanting to pay that much.
An 8 core Zen would count as 1. An 8 core Zen 2 would count as 2. A 2 core Pentium D would count as 2, but Core 2 Duo would count as 1 and a Core 2 Quad as 2. A 64 core EPYC would count as 9.