Re: Java is deprecated on Mac OS X as of 10.6 Update 3!

> From: Jim Douglas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
> In this blog post from three years ago, James Gosling seems to be
> saying that it was Apple's choice, not Sun's, for Apple to assume
> primary responsibility for the Mac OS X port of Java:
>
> http://blogs.sun.com/jag/entry/solaris_and_os_x_continued
> Lots of folks ask "why doesn't sun just do the JDK for Mac?". The
> real answer is "because Apple wanted to do it". They've wanted to do
> all sorts of customization and integration that only they could do -
> because they own the OS.
> Three years and a change of ownership later, it's impossible to say
> what, if anything, this means today.  Certainly the best case
> scenario would be for Oracle to add Mac OS X to their set of
> supported platforms.

In the old days of a full AWT and an Aqua-looking Swing L&F, Apple not only
wanted to do it, they had to, to take advantage of APIs that aren't public.
But given that the future of Java on the desktop is JavaFX 2.0, which is
entirely lightweight, how much customization does Apple need to do anymore?
If you have an NSWindow and an NSGraphicsContext and probably OpenGL you
have everything needed to accomplish what's necessary.  Yes, there is more
to an application than what is drawn in a window, but the SWT demonstrates
that you don't need to be Apple to accomplish that.

Given that this is now the stated position of Apple, I think all of the
energy being directed at Apple to change their minds would be better
directed at Oracle to ask them when OpenJDK will be available on the Mac as
a download, not just source. It's possible to build an OpenJDK 7 for 10.6
today. See <http://wikis.sun.com/display/OpenJDK/Darwin10Build>. There's
also Java Web Start and a plugin for applet support.

All the pieces are there for this to end up being a non-event (or at the
very worst, minimal event) for Mac Java developers. Others are going to
have to step up and fill in the blanks for that to happen, though.

-- Scott K.

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