Please Steve, may I have some Java?
So, with the first day of Leopard, reports are coming in throughout the blogosphere that indeed Java 6 is not included, as was mostly expected. In reality, this is probably not a big deal as the Java 6 preview has been available for a long time (although it was pulled recently) and it’s likely that it will be available relatively soon as either a Leopard update or a developer download.
But to me, the lack of any communication on this is really an important symbol from Apple, and not a positive one. If you go to any Java conference these days, you’re likely to see a majority of speakers toting Macs and usually a fair number of attendees as well. OS X truly has a beautiful UI with a *nix heart that is very developer friendly. For me, I find it the best of both worlds. And obviously I’m not alone.
Tapping into the alpha geek trends is something Tim O’Reilly talks about a lot in the publishing world and it has no less relevance here. When you see the Java alpha geeks all touting Macbooks, that has gotta be an important thing from Apple’s perspective as it’s going to influence more Java developers to buy Macs. And those Java developers are going to recommend to their friends and family (who look to them for computer support) to buy Macs. And that has a nice trickle-down effect.
But my boss has said that if Macs don’t support Java 6, moving forward it’s just not going to be an option anymore. We need to run and test with Java 6 and not having access to it is a big issue. If Apple can’t even be bothered to mention when it will be officially supported, then maybe Java on Apple just doesn’t have a future. For me, that would be terrible from both a use perspective as I would love to use it for work and from an Apple perspective as they are going to lose that alpha geek trickle-down. As an AAPL stockholder, that seems like a terrible decision to me. I guess we’ll see what happens.
I’ve seen some people recommend that an open source group should form to work on Java for OS X based on OpenJDK. That sounds nice, but I suspect the gui issues (at least) are intrinsic enough that without Apple’s explicit involvement, this wouldn’t happen any faster than it already does. I guess we can dream.
Hi! My name is Alex Miller and I live in St. Louis. I write code for a living and currently work for 
I’ve only recently drank the Mac kool-aid (at least in my off-time), but I’ve been a Java addict a long time now.
Windows has Java 6. Even Linux has Java 6 (to which I have some pretty close ties to Gentoo LInux in particular).
Maybe it’s me, but in the particulars of my work, I really haven’t seen a compelling reason to upgrade to Java 6. Or more particularly, I can’t think of any Java 6 features I’d want to upgrade for. Ooooooh, JDBC 4, how I’ve been waiting for thee…. not.
Although, maybe I’ve drank too much of the Ruby kool-aid to really be concerned about Java’s future anymore.
There’s just really no hookline-and-sinker like there was with Java 5, with generics, autoboxing, annotations, etc.
Does Java 6 run under Linux on Mac/Intel? Failing that, how about under Windows? I guess it may be missing hardware drivers…
Apple has done more for Java that Microsoft or the various Linux companies. Unfortunately for Apple, Sun has done more for Java on Windows and Linux than Apple has done for Java on Apple.
Does that make any sense?
Perhaps this will help: http://stuffthathappens.com/blog/2007/10/27/comic-apples-pathetic-java-support-oh-really/
@Josh: I would choose Java 6 as a development platform for a couple reasons – performance first and foremost and some additions like the Deque and ConcurrentSkipList* in the util. But that’s actually unimportant from a work perspective. We release a product that must run on Java 6, thus I need it to run/test with.
@Glyn: Sure you can Linux or Windows or Solaris and get Java 6 on the Intel Macs using Bootcamp or Parallels. But why should I have to? If I’m going to do that, I’ll just install Linux.
@Eric: Absolutely. Nice cartoon, as usual, Eric!
Of course you shouldn’t *have* to use another OS, but if you want to test on other OS’s anyway, then it makes sense to populate the test matrix of platform x OS x (Java version) to fit in with Apple’s slowness at delivering Java 6. Just a thought.
We certainly have that in our test servers…I just don’t want the whole matrix on my own machine. :) I’m happy to give up the OS dimension if I can get the complete JDK dimension.
When I first started reading about leopard, the new iMAC became the iDrool in my eyes. Everything looked to be there. I was itching to get a MAC to use along side linux. Possibly even replace it over time.
When I found out that JAVA 6 was not included because Apple did not have it ready in time for leopard, I became concerned. I used to use OS/2 and found that same thing. I would see a new version of something come out for other operating systems and finally OS/2 month later. It was just not a priority. I don’t like the idea of MAC becoming the same thing. MAC should be cutting-edge. As far as I can see, they are cutting-edge except for this JAVA 6 in leopard issue.
I personally wish that Apple would:
* address why it was not included in some kind of press release.
* tell developers and users where JAVA stands in their vision of OSX. Is it core to the OS or a “nice to have” toy?
* tell us what consumers/developers can expect with future releases. (delay or availability when it is officially released by SUN). Are delays going to be a common experience for JAVA developers.
I think this would cool my jets and other too. Either way, I am now less confident in getting a MAC. Linux will remain my platform until I get a clearer view.
I know it would drive me crazy using my XP system at work with the latest java, my laptop at home with the latest java but my MAC with one version back.