C# had a major break with the move from .NET Framework to .NET Core. This was a major issue frequently talked about, and is still an issue today. Java was very stable in contrast.

Every language platform and project auto-expires. It isn't Java specific. No primary maintainers want to support older versions forever, they just want to support the latest version.

Moving away from Java would be an even worse option than upgrading to a newer Java. All the other options are even less stable or backwards compatible than Java.

What are those inescapable costs of going from 8 to 11?

The Java language and standard library has great backwards-compatibility, while it adds useful features and enhancements version by version. It really is not that difficult to just jump to the latest Java version no matter what your current version is. There's no reason to spend a lot of effort doing small version jumps at a time. One could say jump from Java 8 to Java 25 in about the same amount of effort as going from 8 to 11, especially when they have a window of several years to do it in, and most existing Java 8 code would continue to work unchanged in Java 25.

You don't even need a private browsing window. The sign-up button gives the same message in a non-private window.

The high Seattle rents are not caused by the $15 Now, rather they are caused by all the tech companies bringing large numbers of highly-paid people into the area, driving up demand for limited housing.

LinkedIn does *not* demand email accounts or address books. They may give you the option to import such, but you can easily say 'no' and use LinkedIn without such. I did that with my account.