Leopard rejects latest version of Java

[David Cake]

At 7:39 PM -0700 30/10/07, Hex Star wrote:
>On 10/30/07, Robert La Ferla <robertlaferla at comcast.net> wrote:
>>
>>  The disturbing statement is:
>>
>>  "Over the past few days, people moderating the company's support forum have
>>  deleted several threads related to users' inability to run Java 1.6 on
>>  Leopard."
>
>Yes it is still version 5:
>
>Macintosh:~ hexstar$ java -version
>java version "1.5.0_13"
>Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.5.0_13-b05-237)
>Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.5.0_13-119, mixed mode, sharing)
>
>but as was the case with tiger I have a feeling that version 6 will be
>coming as a separate download soon enough :)

	Various overly paranoid Java programmers have chosen to 
interpret the recent removal of the Java 1.6 beta from the servers as 
evidence that Apple, without any announcement, has chosen to abandon 
Java quite late in the 1.6 development process. And some flaws on 
Leopard, despite the large number of bugfixes (and some of the flaws 
being features from a different perspective ie Java switching to 
using Suns 2D rendering rather than Quartz by default), is further 
evidence to them that Apple, despite making a big commitment to Java 
not so long ago, is secretly hating the Java and just doesn't care 
any more.
	The more likely and rational interpretation is simply that 
Apple hoped to have 1.6 ready for the Leopard launch, put fewer 
resources into Java 1.5 on Leopard due to assuming 1.6 would be 
ready, and then 1.6 slipped, and in a few weeks 1.6 will be done and 
Java on Leopard will be fine.
	And if there is a single specialist area that is absolutely 
crucial to your use of the platform, then, just like everyone else in 
that position (the pro audio and video people, anyone who uses odd 
hardware, etc) you should wait a few weeks after the launch of a new 
OS to ensure your essentials are there, because if things slip in a 
niche area the right thing for the company to do is ship it and catch 
up on the niche stuff after launch.
	The sad truth, however, is that the Java community tends to 
think of itself as much more important than it is. Sure, it will be 
mildly bad for Leopard in some large deployment situations if Java 
sucks on it. But those large deployments aren't going to happen in 
the first week of release either. And its a pity that java developers 
are hurting right now, but its mostly just them.

	I'm particularly stunned at how the Java developer community 
has been rabbiting on about how this issue means Apple isn't 
committed to developers in general. Sure. DTrace, Instruments, Core 
Animation, ObjC 2.0, Ruby and Python supoprt, QTKit, etc - Leopard is 
a fantastic release for developers, and shows some serious commitment 
- to everyone except the increasingly irrelevant, as its increasingly 
fails to deliver outside a couple of niches, Java community. I want 
to see a good Java JDK on Leopard as well, but I really don't care if 
its not in the first week in the least.

	Also - if you want to know why Java 1.6 threads are being 
pulled, you might want to consider that if its never been part of the 
mainstream release its still NDAed.
	Cheers
		David