Java 7 available this year?

[Erik Trimble]

Alexander Schunk wrote:
> Hi,
>
> i am new to this list and i have a simple question.
>
> Is Java 7 going to be available publicly available
> this year?
>   
 From simple questions arise all of life's infinite possibilities (to 
paraphrase the Great Buddha).

The simple (and yet so very incomplete) answer is:   NO.

That said, here's some of the fuzziness around that answer:

(a)  Continuing work on the Hotspot VM is directly released into the 
various JDK 6 Update releases.  That is, snapshots of the JDK 7 Hotspot 
VM are periodically released as part of a 6 Update release.  So, 
effectively, we're releasing the 7-series Hotspot into the 6-series JDKs.

(b)  The various development builds of JDK 7 (available as binary 
bundles here: http://download.java.net/openjdk/jdk7/ ), are fully 
functional, well-tested JDKs.  Of course, they are still under active 
development, so _all_ things haven't stabilized yet, but I [personally] 
would feel quite good about running a JDK 7 bundle in production, so 
long as you are not using any of the newest, bleedingest-edged features. 
To that extent, what I mean is that I would wait about 10 builds or so 
AFTER a feature is released in JDK 7 before feeling that is was 
production-ready.

(c)  You can get PAID support for JDK 7, just like you can for JDK 6. 
Right now.  Call the 800-number and ask how.  Operators are standing by. :-)

(d)  There is debate about which platforms will be supported by JDK 7, 
and who will support them. This is unlikely to be fully resolved for 
quite some time, so even if a "Java 7" is released, I can't say for 
certain that any given platform/OS configuration will be an "official" 
build from Sun. 

(e) Last I looked, and I in no way speak officially on this, the 
appearance of a Java 7 official build date hasn't even been discussed 
yet.  Well, maybe hallway-water-cooler-discussion, but I'm not aware of 
any target date for an actual Java 7 release.  This year, next year, or 
any year.  I'm assuming there has to be a date sometime, as JSR 
improvements and changes will require a change in the Java version 
number, but when that actual date is, I don't know.


Making a wild-ass stab at a guess, Sun's been between 2 and 3 years 
between major releases historically. Given that we spent almost a full 
year on the Open Sourcing of the JDK, I would lean towards at least 3 
years between Java 6 and Java 7 FCS dates.  Which would mean, oh, maybe 
late 2009 at best?

(and, by JDK, I also me JRE in all cases above).


-- 
Erik Trimble
Java System Support
Mailstop:  usca22-123
Phone:  x17195
Santa Clara, CA
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