David Herron's Blog

The If's and When's of Java 6 for Mac OS X 10.5

Okay: I don't know either ('if' or 'when', that is), and I'm pissed it wasn't with 10.5. I just wanted to get that out of the way first.

Seems that a lot of other people are also if not pissed are not happy.

However I just read a timeline of Java releases correlated with OS X releases. Seems like there really is a pattern of Java updates shipping slightly after an OS X major release update. Maybe, as Eric Burke points out, we really should calm down a bit and have some patience and expect an update soon. I do hope that's the case.

Really.

Comments

• I wonder what that timeline means to the release of "Update N"

  Posted by: kirillcool on October 29, 2007 at 09:27 PM

• Will people just calm down? I've had Java 6 for Mac for a long time - it's available through the developer's site. Sure, it's a bit slower in pace compared to Sun's updates, but it's there and it has Java 6 functionality!

  Posted by: aviadbd on October 29, 2007 at 10:03 PM

• Aviadbd - people say that once you install the official Leopard release, the dev preview (which has been removed from that site a couple of weeks ago) is no longer working. Do you have the developer preview working on Leopard without the workaround mentioned in that blog?

  Posted by: kirillcool on October 29, 2007 at 10:58 PM

• It's a shame: I was just getting to like my MacBook as a replacement for a series of unloved Windoze laptops...

  But if I can't develop Java under OS X, and since Linux support (and power conservation) are becoming supported by mainstream mfrs such as Dell, then my next laptop is quite likely to be running Ubuntu...

  Still, at least Java makes it easy for me to switch.

  I'm no sort of fanboi (except possibly of generic *nix and of Java), so I'll be off Apple again like a shot having just dipped my toe...

  Rgds

  Damon

  Posted by: damonhd on October 30, 2007 at 04:16 AM

• Kirill, I'd say about the "Update N": first, Sun announced it that it's making it (Apple never confirmed anything about Java 6); second, Sun told us that the real update will be available in a matter of a few months (that's a vague, but real timeline); third, we have an early access. Yes, it's different from having it already on my disk, but it's better than the void :-)

  Posted by: fabriziogiudici on October 30, 2007 at 04:35 AM

• If Sun releases Update N in a few months, that probably means roughly MacWorld 2009 for Apple support, I guess, given their track record.

  Not having Java 6 almost a year after its release is bad. The fact that it's likely to be Leopard-only is bad. But what's REALLY bad is the fact that Apple doesn't even seem to care-- if they did, they'd have made some sort of statement on the issue. There's not even such a statement made on the NDA'ed ADC site, let alone publicly.

  It's too bad that Apple is still stuck in the 1980's with Objective-C, but it would be nice if they'd put in the effort to port Sun's code in a reasonable timeframe.
  

  Posted by: samkass on October 30, 2007 at 07:46 AM

• @aviadbd People are saying it was pulled from the developers site weeks ago, and that version crashes on Leopard anyway. The latest Javaposse podcast led with this, and offered speculation that it was pulled from Apple's developer site because it crashes on Leopard, to reduce confusion. @damonhd: I think you're missing the point. Apple has a history of releasing a Java update shortly after shipping the new OS, not concurrent with shipping the new OS. It's a puzzle why they do that, but that's been their history.

  Posted by: robogeek on October 30, 2007 at 11:08 AM

• Hi,

  Yes, I think you're right: I was missing the point. One reason might be that they want to concentrate all their efforts on the OS first and then all the stuff around it, in the same way they are said to have moved people between the iPhone and Leopard.

  But it still doesn't bode well for getting JDK 1.6 support on Tiger, does it?

  Rgds

  Damon

  Posted by: damonhd on October 30, 2007 at 04:40 PM

• BTW, Apple called me today for the second time to get me to buy an extended warranty (even though I told them the first time no).

  When they asked the reason why not, I told the caller that as a Java developer I wasn't going to pay to extend my use of something that I was unlikely to be able to upgrade and work on (for example, I dare not upgrade or use QT after the problems with 7.1 and JDK 1.6...).

  Rgds

  Damon

  Posted by: damonhd on November 01, 2007 at 11:46 AM

• Update N only really matters on Windows, where Sun's JDK team takes care of the update process. On OS X, Linux, etc. the JVM updates are provided via the vendor specific packaging tools, and there is no reason not to push a full binary update, rather than a sequence of partial ones on demand.

  Posted by: robilad on November 03, 2007 at 04:20 AM

• I guess someone should say 13949712720901ForOSX at this point...

  Posted by: damonhd on November 03, 2007 at 01:47 PM

• And landonf has started porting FreeBSD's port of java6 to OS X ... waycool.

  Posted by: robogeek on November 05, 2007 at 12:14 PM

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