Java isn’t dead on OS X as Apple contributes to OpenJDK

Were you worried about Apple’s commitment to Java? Today’s press release from Cupertino may make you feel a little better. It seems Oracle (who bought Sun and thus Java back in 2009) and Apple are going to support the OpenJDK project going forward. You can read the full press release below, but the practical upshot is that Java on the Mac is far from being dead. It’s a good thing, too, because Java is still widely used for writing applications that need to be easily deployed across a multitude of platforms.

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REDWOOD SHORES and CUPERTINO, California-November 12, 2010-Oracle and Apple(R) today announced the OpenJDK project for Mac OS(R) 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.”

“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.”

Apple also confirmed that Java SE 6 will continue to be available from Apple for Mac OS X Snow Leopard(R) 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.

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.

Java isn’t dead on OS X as Apple contributes to OpenJDK originally appeared on TUAW on Fri, 12 Nov 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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