Probably safe to say that it's never going to happen, particularly since it's now been so long since Apple released its Java 6 implementation as 64-bit-only. Apple seems to have different guidelines for how far back they'll support hardware and software, and while QuickTime is probably the most backward-compatible (the current version is available for OS X 10.3, circa 2003-5), developer tools are among the least backward-compatible. The iPhone SDK, for example, doesn't run on PowerPC hardware or any OS but the latest builds of Leopard.
According to apple-history.com, Apple hasn't sold a 32-bit Intel machine since early 2007, and that was the low-selling Mac Mini. iMacs and laptops went 64-bit in late 2006, and the Mac Pro has always been 64-bit. Assuming a 3-4 year duty cycle for developer machines, there are definitely some, but not that many, developers who can't run 64-bit software, and the number decreases every day as developers upgrade (or switch). IMHO, I think you could look six months out and release something as Java 6 only, since what you'd lose is a small fraction (the PPC and 32- bit Intel part) of a small fraction (Mac OS X is still a single-digit percentage of OS'es in use) of your potential user base. The JavaFX team played it way safe targeting Java 1.5 -- Java developers tend to be pretty version-conservative anyways -- but I suspect they'll be willing to move on in their next major release if Java 6 and the 6u10 plugin features are sufficiently compelling. Long term, this problem goes away in Java 7, as I believe Landon Fuller's work on Soy Latte has been incorporated into OpenJDK's BSD Ports project (though I don't know if he ever got the needed AWT and audio help that seemed the biggest unresolved hurdle). Of course, now that we know (from Mark Reinhold's modularization blogs last week) that Java 7 is shooting for a 2010 release, the point is likely moot, as very few 32-bit Intel Macs will be in active use two years from now (and that's assuming the date doesn't slip). One other point on Apple and Java I don't think anyone else noticed. While we have a contingent that believes it's useful to try to insult Apple into better supporting Java -- James Gosling's JavaFX blog actually implied that using OS X was "suffering" -- there were comments last week indicating that there is a direct Sun-Apple collaboration going on. Tor asked John Burkey and Octavian Tanase about Mac support for JavaFX in JavaPosse 220 and they said that "the guy who's working on the bridge has been over there [Apple] a bunch of times" and that "I'm [John or Octavian?] going over there next week, actually." And Kirill pointed out Java Bug Parade bug #6761033, which seems to imply the delivery for 6u12 of a new Java plug-in, for which Sun "collaborated with Apple to redo the Mac OS X port of the new Java Plug-In as an NPAPI and NPRuntime plugin". Maybe I'm biased or have a different set of ethics, but I think it's now disingenuous to bash Apple's Java support or lack thereof when there are clearly many people in and out of both Sun and Apple quietly working on it. --Chris On Dec 7, 2:50 pm, "Michael Lee" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Is Apple going to support 32-bit intel box? Apple made Java 1.6 only > available for Leopard on Intel x64. I have the first generation of > MacBookPro and I can only run Java 1.5. I believe Tor mentioned that > Netbeans is still based on 1.5 because of MacOSX. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Java Posse" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
