Comments on: Apple Blows Another Great Opportunity

By: Eelco Hillenius

Eelco Hillenius — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 20:19:45 +0000

> “People still use Java? That dead weight of a framework? Real Mac Developers use Cocoa.”

SA, you’re so missing the point. Java is currently the most popular programming language world wide (I’m sure you knew that). As for ‘Real Mac Developers’… well, I don’t develop applications specifically for the Mac, but I still like to use a Mac as my tool of choice. Did you ever think of that possibility?

Dissing any programming language is moronic. Anyone who does misses the point that there is a great opportunity for Apple to service a large target audience who are typically early adaptors and influencers. I think it would just be smart business-wise if Apple would try to keep that group happy.

By: blind2c

blind2c — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 07:42:41 +0000

I made my decision some time ago and now I’m running Unbuntu as my primary OS on my iMac. Mac OS is still there to test some apps and let me inspire by some of the really good ideas of this OS. But at the end it lacks of some of my loved development tools. Je ne regrette rien!

By: Mehboob Alam

Mehboob Alam — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 18:01:37 +0000

You may want to read Ars Technica’s review of Leopard, I think there are inklings to what’s going on under the hood.

http://arstechnica.com/reviews/os/mac-os-x-10-5.ars

By: Javier

Javier — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 09:38:32 +0000

Perhaps the time has come to save the money on Leopard and download Ubuntu (PPC or Intel) …

By: n8han

n8han — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 16:49:35 +0000

Agreed with commenters above that it would be nice to see Java stand up on its own now (without Sun, too), but you have to admit that would be more likely to happen if Apple weren’t jerking us around so much. Ever since the first MRJ they’ve come out with very tardy, but nicely done Java revisions–so no one has been compelled to duplicated the effort. With Leopard it’s apparent there has been a lot of internal flip-flopping, and not just in its Java support. Lame is all this is.

By: Steve Webb

Steve Webb — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 09:45:22 +0000

I’m just waiting for my Mac and I’m amazed its not going to be running Java 6. As for the people who are saying so what, nobody uses Java they must have their heads in the ground or not understand whats going on in the development comunity at large.

I’m a developer and a good percentage of developments that I know people are working on are Java based now. Lots of customers for companies I work for are asking for products that can run an multiple platforms. The normal Joe bloggs who just uses a computer for everyday tasks just won’t be aware of any of this.

Now just think of how much of the web has Java sat behind its workings now and start wondering how Apple plan to make in roads into this ! How the hell can they think for one moment they can because a big player in the server market if they don’t keep their Java offering upto date.

Comments have also been made on here about who cares about Java. I find this suprising seeing as the bulk of development jobs round the world now seem to be Java based. Java Swing is the most used api for front end GUI development worldwide … I could go on but these are the facts. To ignore it as a development platform for any IT company is just plain crazy.

By: Neil Anderson

Neil Anderson — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 04:40:48 +0000

Parallels runs Solaris, as well.

By: Beckley

Beckley — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 03:34:50 +0000

Sorry, I don’t think Apple markets to Java developers, and the shareholders don’t care about whether Apple supports Java 6. It sounds like you think Apple’s focus should revolve around your Java development world, but it doesn’t. I’m sure it doesn’t diss it either. I’ll bet they’re working on it. If you want to switch to Vista or Solaris, knock yourself out.

By: Fred Hamranhansenhan

Fred Hamranhansenhan — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 03:10:48 +0000

I get your point about Java needing to be current, but I think the responsibility for this lies with the Java community. Everybody else has their latest tools running on OS X. Apache, PHP, Perl, Ruby, Python, WebKit, the list goes on. It doesn’t even take too much coaxing to run the latest version of Windows on OS X. If you are a Win32 developer you might be quite comfortable. What is Java’s excuse? That Apple didn’t care enough about Java? Apple has iPhone, iPod, iTunes, Xcode, WebKit, QuickTime, AppleScript, DashCode, Final Cut, Logic, and more and Sun has Java. Sun is going to have to drive Java everywhere if it’s going to be everywhere.

By: John Brave

John Brave — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 00:33:50 +0000

Java is Sun’s technology and they’re the one to support it on Windows and on Linux. How come Apple is the one to make it happen on the Mac?

At the time when Apple took the responsibility for the Java virtual machine on the Mac, Java was in ascendency and the Mac platform was faltering. Apple hoped that supporting Java would make the Mac less relevant.

Forward 10 years or so, Java is nearly irrelevant and the Mac platform is in its best condition ever. I don’t see what kind of motivation Apple has to maintain somebody else’s technology on their platform. The Mac has always been the bastard child with regards to the Java community.

Anybody that writes applications in Java, almost _almost_ never targets the Mac. I can count the semi-relevant Java-based applications that have any presence on the Mac on a single hand. So the Mac platform’s benefit from supporting Java is minimal at best.

Java is a neat idea and a neat technology to have on the Mac or any platform for that matter, but thanks to Microsoft, Java never managed to become crucial enough to force any system builder to support it on their own.

From this point on, I really doubt that Apple will ever support Java as well as Sun supports Java on Windows and Linux.

It is an unfortunate thing for those developers that switched to the Mac Just to work on Java, but that’s not really Apple’s problem.

Java’s only hope on the Mac now is for Sun to treat the Mac the same as it does Windows and Linux and do the work themselves.