Hi, Chris Thank you for your comment. But I want to be clear that I was *not* bashing Apple for their lack of support. It was a statement that Java 1.6 is limited to 64-bit Leopard.
Having said that, I am annoyed. I wish Apple was explicit about the support of Java on their front page. http://developer.apple.com/java/ You have to read the knowledge base details to find out that it is only supported for 64-bit Intel box. I made the mistake of just reading the apple's java webpage before upgrade to Leopard. I do not want others to make the same mistake. I wish they would come out and say what they are going to support and what not. - Michael On Mon, Dec 8, 2008 at 8:35 AM, Chris Adamson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
