Java 7 for Mac OSX

[Johannes Schindelin]

Hi Mike,

On Tue, 21 Feb 2012, Mike Swingler wrote:

> When it comes time for you to test your app, you only test against the
> version of Java you have, not future ones that don't exist yet.

Is it now the official position that Java is not future-compatible
anymore? That "compile once, run everywhere" is a joke?

I understand that you are not speaking for Oracle, because that would be
sad.

> Including a JRE inside the app bundle is simply a new requirement, since
> Apple does not provide one as part of the base OS, and Oracle is in
> charge of shipping Java 7 and newer versions. It doesn't matter if you
> bundle a proprietary binary built by Oracle, an OpenJDK binary you built
> yourself, or an OpenJDK binary someone else built for you - it's your
> choice.

However, the reality out here is that it does matter whether the binary
was built by Oracle, by Apple or by yours truly.

You know, if you wanted to seed uncertainty and doubt about Java on
MacOSX, things like "oh, and we break 32-bit compatibility without warning
and we are unwilling to fix the breakage but instead argue that you have
to cope with it yourself" and "oh, and Java, well, hide it in your App.
Bring your own. Do not have a system-wide well-tested and well-maintained
Java" are *exactly* what I suggest you should start with.

Basically, you are asking people to forget about everything they learnt to
rely on in Java. Stability. Compatibility. Platform-independence.

Worried,
Johannes