Simon Brown's Blog

J2SE 5.0 updates

This blog entry should really be titled, "J2SE 5.0 updates, or the lack of them". I've read Graham's blog entry about J2SE 5.0 updates a couple of times now and I still don't understand why you wouldn't want to push out minor updates via the consumer java.com website. The end result of this is that J2SE 5.0 Update 2 is available from java.com, while Update 3 is available from the java.sun.com website.

I can see why this may be simpler for end-users, but not for anybody else. Think about it. You're supporting an application and a user encounters a bug that you don't see on your computer with the JDK installed. A response of "make sure your JRE is up-to-date" just isn't going to cut it anymore. As far as the end-user is concerned, their JRE is up-to-date. Unfortunately we know better. Of course, we could point them at the java.sun.com website, but then that defeats the purpose of the user-friendly java.com website.

Anyway, putting the inconsistency issues between java.sun.com and java.com to one side (there are a lot of very good responses to Graham's blog entry), what happens when Apple starts delivering J2SE 5.0 through the Mac OS X Software Update channel? This is the primary mechanism to ensure that end-users (and developers!) have the most up-to-date version of the Java runtime. If Apple make Update 3 available via Software Update, for once, Mac users will have a more up-to-date version of the runtime than those running Windows! Well, until Mustang is released anyway.

I just don't get it. The Java runtime version numbering is confusing enough as it is. Take a look at the java.com website, even that refers to "JRE 1.5.0" rather than "J2SE 5.0". Complicate matters further by not ensuring that everybody is in step and we've got a real problem on our hands. No wonder Java is struggling to gain ground on the desktop. Sun, please revisit this decision and let us have the same version of "Java everywhere".

Comments

• Maybe we can find some common ground. Maybe by default, people won't get every patch automatically. But I should be able to override that and specify that my app requires something very specific like "1.5.0_03" if I need to. The problem is that even these "minor" bug fixes are of course fixing bugs. If your app happens to be one of the apps that encounters the obscure bug, you'll want a way to ensure your users have that exact release.

  Posted by: burke_e on May 04, 2005 at 10:38 AM

• There is a simple solution to all of this, Sun should provide consistency in everything java, because right now everything is a mess. Reorganization is in order, java is a great platform, but lacking a lot of organization

  Posted by: jmgtan on May 05, 2005 at 07:27 PM

• 
  just don't get it. The Java runtime version numbering is confusing enough as it is. Take a look at the java.com website, even that refers to "JRE 1.5.0" rather than "J2SE 5.0".

  
  yes, to simplify things sun in mustang should definitely change the jdk name from 1.6 to 6.0, matching the name of the platform.
  after all microsoft do this all the time and you see, all end users are just happy!
  

  Posted by: furbotto on May 07, 2005 at 02:30 AM

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