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java is deprecated?

did apple finally discontinue java support? I saw this was tweeted earlier today.

macbook pro (13 in 2.53 GHz) (Mid 2009), Mac OS X (10.6.3), I use an iPod Shuffle, iPod Touch, iBook G4, and iMac (20" Mid-2007)

Posted on Oct 21, 2010 12:29 AM

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75 replies

Oct 24, 2010 11:59 PM in response to etresoft

etresoft wrote:

It was never your thread to begin with 🙂


I'm sorry, but I've seen criticism on these boards before when an individual starts a new thread that might have been covered by one already existing. My comment was merely an observation, not a criticism that my question hadn't been answered. 🙂

Oct 21, 2010 6:02 AM in response to Barney-15E

I hope so, if there is no decent java version then they will use a significant part of their developer base. Apple computers have been a prime choice for professional java developers in the past despite their constant delays of their own vm compared to the one from Sun.
If you look at a java developers conference about 30% of all machines carried around if not 50% are apple notebook computers.
But either way the future will tell and if there is no decent java version those people probably will either switch back to Windows or move over to Linux and will ignore apple in their next purchase. (not that Apple really has cared about those issues in the past seriously)

Oct 21, 2010 6:50 AM in response to Arhsmacdude

There's been speculation that they'd eventually move to the Microsoft Windows model... Namely, you'll obtain Java from Oracle or another third party.

While Java is clearly important, it made very little sense for Apple to maintain a completely separate branch of the language. They were starting to encounter issues with their ports and it seems as though merging back into main-line Java and turning over the maintenance to the Java language developers makes more sense.

There's really some question what's going to happen to Java now that Oracle's at the helm. The creator of Java, James Gosling, quit Oracle over disagreements over its future, and, historically, Oracle's proven themselves abysmal at software development outside of their core RDBMS. I suspect that OpenJDK will become the reference Java implementation before long.

Hopefully both OpenJDK and Sun Java will pickup building packages for OS X.

Oct 21, 2010 7:31 AM in response to Barney-15E

Except there is no such thing as Sun/Oracle JDK for Mac OS X. There never was, since Apple always wanted to make one themselves.

Oracle is not exactly agile company, so I would not expect Java for Mac from them any time soon either.

This pretty much means Mac is no longer viable development platform for the currently most popular language on the planet. Sad day I'm afraid.

Oct 21, 2010 8:35 AM in response to MarioGrgic

I have 6 macs at my house, including a mac mini server / mac pro, and do server side development with java for a living. This effectively locks me out from using a mac if nobody picks up the mantle. It seems that the handoff could be done more gracefully then just deprecating. Was there any notice for Oracle? Last time I checked OpenJDK wasn't viable yet. I'll switch back to Linux if there is no replacement. I was aiming to replace my mac pro in the spring, but guess I won't be doing that now. Sad day indeed.

Oct 21, 2010 8:37 AM in response to MarioGrgic

Well lets bring it to the point, it really depends on what will happen. If there is a java version then it will be osx for me for the upcoming years because I love the unix underneath in conjunction with a good software mix on the user land side, but if not, then I have to switch over to Linux and from that point on it will be the question, why Mac at all. And I am pretty confident I am not alone in this regard.

Oct 21, 2010 9:52 AM in response to Werner P.

No, you're not alone. I'm a Java developer that switched from Linux to Mac back in 2003. I really like Mac, but if a viable JVM isn't available on Mac, I'll probably end up switching back to Linux. I've been kicking around the idea of getting a new Mac, soon, but I guess I'll hold off on that, now.

There's still some time to wait and see, in any case. Perhaps Oracle will pick up the ball. If Oracle starts delivering the Mac JVM and it uses Swing on Cocoa, that might actually be a good thing for Java on Mac.

Oct 21, 2010 10:38 AM in response to Arhsmacdude

The only definitive information is that the MacOSX Java Preferences app will now support 3rd party JVMs. The announcement made a point to say "the version of Java", not Java itself. I don't know if that means Apple is deprecating the Apple-built Java or just Java 1.6.

Considering the fact that Apple's Java is always behind the other platforms, and Java users whine about it incessantly, it seems to make sense for Apple to provide better support for 3rd party JVMs.

I don't think anyone has anything to worry about. Lotus Notes and Eclipse will still run on the Mac and, if that is what makes you happy, enjoy.

java is deprecated?

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