Oracle and Apple announce OpenJDK Project for Java on Mac OS X

Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
Oracle and Apple on Friday announced a new partnership that will bring the Java SE 7 and future versions of Java for Mac OS X to users directly from Oracle.



With the OpenJDK project for Mac OS X, Apple will contribute most of the key components, tools and technology required for a Java SE 7 implementation on Mac OS X, including a 32-bit and 64-bit HotSpot-based Java virtual machine, class libraries, a networking stack and the foundation for a new graphical client. OpenJDK will make Apple's Java technology available to open source developers so they can access and contribute to the effort.



"We are excited to welcome Apple as a significant contributor in the growing OpenJDK community," said Hasan Rizvi, Oracle’s senior vice president of Development. "The availability of Java on Mac OS X plays a key role in the cross-platform promise of the Java platform. The Java developer community can rest assured that the leading edge Java environment will continue to be available on Mac OS X in the future. Combined with last month’s announcement of IBM joining the OpenJDK, the project now has the backing of three of the biggest names in software."



Apple also said that Java SE 6 will continue to be available from Apple for Mac OS X Snow Leopard and the upcoming release of Mac OS X Lion. Java SE 7 and future versions of Java for Mac OS X will be available from Oracle.



"We’re delighted to be working with Oracle to insure that there continues to be a great version of Java on the Mac," said Bertrand Serlet, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. "The best way for our users to always have the most up-to-date and secure version of Java will be to get it directly from Oracle."



Java is a general purpose software development platform that is specifically designed to be open and enable application developers to "write once, run anywhere." The Java platform is most widely used in business software, Web and mobile applications.



In October, Apple announced it would deprecate Java for Mac OS X, meaning the company would no longer issue its own updates for Java. Apple's note said that the Java runtime could be removed altogether from future versions of Mac OS X.



An e-mail claimed to be from Apple CEO Steve Jobs said that his company decided it would no longer develop their own Java for Mac because their updates were always a version behind the official releases from Oracle and Sun. Jobs allegedly said that the current method "may not be the best way to do it."
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 42
    john.bjohn.b Posts: 2,742member
    To everyone who said I was full of crap when I said this was in the works, "I TOLD YOU SO!"
  • Reply 2 of 42
    Excellent to hear that Apple isn't going to abandon or block Java on OS X for the time being. While on the decline, it's still useful for many things.
  • Reply 3 of 42
    outsideroutsider Posts: 6,008member
    Expect similar announcements WRT server technologies.
  • Reply 4 of 42
    When Apple dropped their JDK everyone thought the sky was falling. I'm glad it turns out Apple was simply returning the keys of the car back to the owner.
  • Reply 5 of 42
    stompystompy Posts: 408member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by John.B View Post


    To everyone who said I was full of crap when I said this was in the works, "I TOLD YOU SO!"



    Thanks. From now on, I'll believe everything I read on internets.
  • Reply 6 of 42
    outsideroutsider Posts: 6,008member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by huntercr View Post


    When Apple dropped their JDK everyone thought the sky was falling. I'm glad it turns out Apple was simply returning the keys of the car back to the owner.



    It's similar to what Apple is doing with Flash player on Macs. Install directly from Adobe and let them supply updates and patches. The last SL update, 10.6.5, spent much of it's payload in fixing Flash vulnerabilities and bugs, time better spent by Apple in fixing it's own bugs.
  • Reply 7 of 42
    It always made sense to me that Apple would either provide its work (quite considerable) for the community to support, or arrange with Oracle. Steve Jobs and Larry Ellison are close friends, if the reports are accurate. It doesn't take much of a nudge from either end for things like this to be organized.



    p.s. the one thing that puzzles me is why it wasn't announced earlier, which would have avoided all the hand-wringing and gnashing of teeth. That may be related to the fight that Oracle is having with the Java community, and the fact that Apple has now taken sides in it.
  • Reply 8 of 42
    mariomario Posts: 348member
    Finally some good news.
  • Reply 9 of 42
    wigginwiggin Posts: 2,265member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by John.B View Post


    To everyone who said I was full of crap when I said this was in the works, "I TOLD YOU SO!"



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Outsider View Post


    Expect similar announcements WRT server technologies.



    Nope, didn't see that coming at all. LOL Steve and Larry are too good of friends to not have talked about this before Apple's announcement regarding Java. I also had the same thoughts about OS X Server and virtualization. And let's not forget Apple's huge new server farm. Anyone know who's providing the big iron for that? Over a decade ago Ellison was promoting the concept of thin clients with everything running in the cloud (although it wasn't called the cloud back then). He wanted everything running on Oracle servers and users only have lightweight clients (MacBook Air, anyone?) Not to mention potential implications of the recently discussed Apple patent to easily hand tasks back and forth between computers.



    Lot's of possibilities...
  • Reply 10 of 42
    Problem solved.
  • Reply 11 of 42
    boogabooga Posts: 1,082member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ghostface147 View Post


    Excellent to hear that Apple isn't going to abandon or block Java on OS X for the time being. While on the decline, it's still useful for many things.



    Java as a language ticked down slightly, but the JVM is continuing its upward trajectory. There are now half a dozen solid languages that run on the JVM, and it's the most popular ISA for server software by far and shows no decline there.
  • Reply 12 of 42
    Phew. Way to come through, Apple and Oracle! Well done. I guess it pays to be best buds with Larry Ellison.
  • Reply 13 of 42
    mariomario Posts: 348member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Booga View Post


    Java as a language ticked down slightly, but the JVM is continuing its upward trajectory. There are now half a dozen solid languages that run on the JVM, and it's the most popular ISA for server software by far and shows no decline there.



    Yes, indeed. Scala is an amazing language though, and so is Clojure. I'm glad JVM continues to live on.



    Speaking of which, I was ticked that Apple would deprecate something as sophisticated as JVM, when they are trying to get to the same sate of the art level where JVM is now with the LLVM project.



    Glad to see them contributing to the OpenJDK. This is better news than Apple continuing to provide the JVM themselves. It was actually a little too good to be true option, so I didn't think it would happen. But I'm glad I was wrong .
  • Reply 14 of 42
    backtomacbacktomac Posts: 4,579member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Outsider View Post


    Expect similar announcements WRT server technologies.



    I hope you're right.
  • Reply 15 of 42
    Perhaps Apple is considering purchasing Oracle.
  • Reply 16 of 42
    boogabooga Posts: 1,082member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mario View Post


    Speaking of which, I was ticked that Apple would deprecate something as sophisticated as JVM, when they are trying to get to the same sate of the art level where JVM is now with the LLVM project.



    LLVM vs JVM are apples and oranges. LLVM, as its name implies, is extremely low-level and much, much closer to a modern CPU's ISA. Apple has used it to recompile shaders between x86, nVidia, and ATI so the same code can run on any (or no) video acceleration. This has been in MacOS X for years. Now LLVM is increasingly taking the place of GCC as a intermediate ISA that's easier to optimize before things are compiled to their final processor. That allows them to have common optimizers that work for x86, ARM, etc.



    JVM is much, much more heavyweight. It's awesome for dev environments, server middleware, control systems, etc. But it doesn't serve as well as an intermediate step for optimization nor a way to get shaders onto new GPUs.
  • Reply 17 of 42
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Outsider View Post


    Expect similar announcements WRT server technologies.



    Exactly!



    Apple likes to wake you up before it kisses you -- except the server gambit was a bit over the top.



    But, in pure Apple fashion, they get lots of free publicity at both ends.



    "Boy meets girl"...



    "Boy loses girl"...



    ... it all works out in the "final reel".



    .
  • Reply 18 of 42
    vinney57vinney57 Posts: 1,162member
    Sensible solution. No drama.
  • Reply 19 of 42
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by John.B View Post


    To everyone who said I was full of crap when I said this was in the works, "I TOLD YOU SO!"



    I also kept saying Larry and Steve would do something.
  • Reply 20 of 42
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Wiggin View Post


    Nope, didn't see that coming at all. LOL Steve and Larry are too good of friends to not have talked about this before Apple's announcement regarding Java. I also had the same thoughts about OS X Server and virtualization. And let's not forget Apple's huge new server farm. Anyone know who's providing the big iron for that? Over a decade ago Ellison was promoting the concept of thin clients with everything running in the cloud (although it wasn't called the cloud back then). He wanted everything running on Oracle servers and users only have lightweight clients (MacBook Air, anyone?) Not to mention potential implications of the recently discussed Apple patent to easily hand tasks back and forth between computers.



    Lot's of possibilities...



    100% agree.
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