Last week I discovered that although most (practically all?) OS X installs now have Java 5 physically installed [anyone who bought Tiger aka OS X 10.4, which came out a year ago], it was still disabled by default. Unsurprisingly, not many OS X users know how to change it (it’s not configured in the same place as all the other OS level stuff for OS X, and is not particularly intuitive either), and I very much doubt any significant number would care to do so even if they knew how :).
…but now thats changed/changing:
“After installing J2SE 5.0 Release 4, J2SE 5.0 becomes preferred over Java 1.4.2, which will still be installed on your Mac. Applications run with J2SE 5.0 unless they specifically request Java 1.4.2 (learn more).”
Co-incidentally, last week I emailed them a complaint that 1.4.2 was still the default, and what the ramifications were of this for people’s experience of OS X. I’d love to take credit for this but R4 has been in the works since autumn last year, so I think not ;).
Strange how it doesn’t really make a difference: we’re stuck with 1.4 whatever, really, as that’s the lowest common denominator and unlike Windows there’s no opportunity to just, ahaa, hm, ship your own VM with your games…
As I’ve pointed out to you in other threads where you’ve been spreading this misinformatio…
This is not true. When Java 5 is installed it is not “disabled”, any application that specifically requests Java 5 will get it. There were “issues” though…
What you are describing is probably the fact that in a command shell Java 1.4 was still what you had on the path and there was also an issue with a brain-dead interpretation of what “1.4+” meant in a JNLP file. Basically Apple’s implementation previous to Java 5 R4 still gave you Java 1.4 if Java 5 was installed and an App asked for “1.4+”… unless you changed a preference setting (which as you point out, was a bit hidden to unsophisticated users)… the idea being that they were worried about apps breaking. They finally smartened up and realized it wasn’t their place to re-interpret the Web Start spec for all developers. HOWEVER, any application that indicated it required Java 5 (used “1.5”, “1.5+”, or “1.5*” in a JNLP file, or Mac Application bundle), would get Java 5.
[quote] Unsurprisingly, not many OS X users know how to change it (it’s not configured in the same place as all the other OS level stuff for OS X, and is not particularly intuitive either), and I very much doubt any significant number would care to do so even if they knew how :).
…but now thats changed/changing:
“After installing J2SE 5.0 Release 4, J2SE 5.0 becomes preferred over Java 1.4.2, which will still be installed on your Mac. Applications run with J2SE 5.0 unless they specifically request Java 1.4.2 (learn more).”
Co-incidentally, last week I emailed them a complaint that 1.4.2 was still the default, and what the ramifications were of this for people’s experience of OS X. I’d love to take credit for this but R4 has been in the works since autumn last year, so I think not ;).
[/quote]
The “news” that R4 would make Java 5 the “default” has been around for some time now. I and several others reported bugs against Java5 on Mac to protest the munging of the Web Start rules. It was also discussed on Apple’s java-dev mailing list.
(Bug reports are what Apple wants developers to use for that sort of communication - it gets seen by an apple engineer and it is tracked internally by Apple… postings to their own mailing lists and other public forums are only read on a volunteer basis by Apple employees)
Java 5 has been out for ages on Windows and Linux, (and Mac though not as long)…
On Windows at least Web Start can fetch Java 5 for you if only 1.4 is currently there, right?
The linux situation doesn’t seem to be that bad… the only people using Linux will be techy enough to find Java 5 if they need to.
The remaining question is, “how many Mac users are using a recent 10.4 version of OS X?”
Apple doesn’t waste time supporting old operating systems… unlike Microsoft that essentially holds back progress in their OS simply to be compatible with DOS. (8.3 mangled file names are the stupidest thing ever)
If you can’t find any reason to upgrade, then obviously you don’t. I personally think that something as core to everything you do on your computer as the OS needs to be maintained and upgraded and there is an obvious cost to do that. If you want the latest and greatest you have to pay for it… there isn’t anything wrong with that. The OS is reasonably priced… specially if you consider how much you use it
This has always been the way Apple does things. Only critical bug fixes and security updates are provided for non-current versions of the OS. There are pros and cons to each way. I prefer the Apple way - make the OS stronger and let the applications rely on it As opposed to the Microsoft way… keep the OS a close to DOS as possible and create hacked up apps that don’t work very well
by requiring an upgrade of the OS just because of the Java VM - they are forcing me to QA all applications on that platform instead of just the apps using the 1.5 VM.
However much I prefer to always run the latest and greatest, leaving enterprise customers behind is a bad solution.
There are downsides, I don’t dispute that. But Apple takes the approach that Java is a core part of the Mac OS. Java 5 support is the result of an OS upgrade, it’s as simple as that. New software will take advantage of new OS features, to not do so would be very limiting. For example if you need (or want) to use an application that requires the recently added Core Data framework how is it any different? You still need to upgrade the OS to get Core Data.
well if I require a recently added feature in the OS then fair deal - but Java 1.5 is hardly an OS feature.
I am able to use Java 1.1.7 to latest on Windows 2000 and probably windows 98 too.
but R4 has been in the works since autumn last year, so I think not ;).