Oracle isn't demanding Ubuntu actively remove Java from user's computers: Ubuntu has simply decided to do so; they could keep distributing the old version, or even distribute no version at all. Meanwhile, the driving factor behind the license change is "use OpenJDK instead", which would be a step in the right direction with regard to RMS's issues with Java. Oracle is not the problem here: Ubuntu is.
This reminds me of a quote from the movie Analyze This (2002):
Jelly: Anyway, two of the witnesses decided not to
testify and the third guy, well, he commited
suicide.
Dr. Ben Sobel: How?
Jelly: He stabbed himself in the back four times
and threw himself off a bridge.
Oracle isn't demanding Ubuntu actively remove Java from user's computers
Except that it makes it impossible to do otherwise, as security (a hallmark of desktop Linux) is compromised. Technical users that need to keep their servers up will know how to workaround this, while mom and dad won't care.
Despite the backlash, I think this is the right choice.
Yes, I know how to work around this. No, I do think it is reasonable that I might be forced to work around this while I'm in the middle of doing what should have been a routine security upgrade; remember: the original package is gone, and Ubuntu's Java packages have extra supporting material (such as dpkg-alternatives logic) that is missing from Sun's.
It should also be noted/realized that many Ubuntu users even use the "unattended-updates" package that is provided by the distribution, which means that at some point in the middle of the night all of their software is just going to stop working with no notice. Apple isn't even this insane, and people give them all sorts of flak for theoretically having the ability to remotely wipe apps from peoples' phones.
Technical users are the only ones that are going to have this installed. You have to go out of your way to source the partner repo already and then explicitly pick the Sun JDK since it's not the default java implementation. Everyone running the Sun JDK on Ubuntu knows that they're running it.
