Stale Java for the Mac Faithful

Now that Apple has released Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5.0) many blogs start talking about the missing JVM 1.6. Here is a quote from one of them:

Om Malik's Broadband Blog in Stale Java for the Mac Faithful:

Mac releases of Java lag those for Linux and Windows, and release 1.6 speeds up applications considerably, something Java needs in its fight with Adobe (ADBE) and Microsoft. Apple teased Java developers at its worldwide development conference with details on how Leopard would work well with Java and the community got its hopes up.

Part of the problem is that Apple insists on developing the JDK for MacOS. But another part is the company’s attitude towards innovation: That’s Apple’s Job.

As a company that makes both the hardware and the operating system, Apple has imposed more restrictions and regulations on its products than other computer manufacturers.

It’s possible that giving developers tools and open access to platforms will further reduce Apple’s control over the desktop. But by limiting development tools Apple is playing a risky game that may send developers looking for more friendly development platforms.

Currently I'm using Java 1.6 for a project on Ubuntu Linux. The IDE of choice is Eclipse 3.3 with a small number of plugins (Subclipse, M2Eclipse and Spring IDE). My experience so far is that Eclipse crashes arbitrarily with the latest JVM 1.6 upgrade 3. It's probably two or three times per day. That never happens with Apple's JVM 1.5 on Mac OS X (Tiger). On OS X I never close Eclipse throughout the week. I simply close the lid of the MacBook Pro, go home, use the laptop to surf the web in the evening and when I open it the next day I simply keep using Eclipse at the point where I left it.

So from my point of view I'm not so eager to use JVM 1.6 at this point in time. Speed improvements are one thing. But developer's productivity decreases drastically, if the tools are not stable. It's cheaper and easier to buy more powerful hardware, than to find skilled developers. I like to focus on my development problems and not on solving problems with the computing environment. In the end that saves a lot of time and money.

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