Ramblings of this guy you know!
Tech Stuff and random observations on life as I see it….
No Java on Mac OS X Lion – Do we care?
Posted by on July 27, 2011
Chances are, if you work in a commercial business some of the apps you use or systems accessed via a Java Application or applet if however you are a home user, chances are you may not need it. Up until Lion was released, you got the Java runtime if you needed it or not. With the latest release this is no longer true.
Last year, in October, Apple caused a fair amount of unrest among Java developers when, in the release notes of a Java update, it said that Java on Mac had been “deprecated” and that it “may be removed from future versions of Mac OS.” The future of Java on OS X is unclear, but for now it appears when Apple drops development of Java that Oracle will assume the reins and maintain future releases of the runtime for OS X in partnership with Apple who would contribute the likes of a Java virtual machine, class libraries, a networking stack, and base code for a new graphical client in a future release.
So, what if you do need it then? Well currently apple is providing Java 1.6.0_26 (the same version that is available for Snow Leopard) for Lion users but is not developing it any further than this. So, if an application requires it on your Mac a window will pop up and give you the option to download it. Giving permission will open up Software Update to download and install the required Java runtime. A stand-alone installed is also available from the Lion web site or from this Apple Support Article .
Rosetta was also previously deprecated by Apple, and the company barred applications using both Rosetta and Java from the new Mac App Store. With Snow Leopard, the previous version of Mac OS X, Rosetta was not installed by default, but users could install it if they chose to. Now it has been completely removed.
Ramblings of this guy you know! 
More evidence that Apple is exiting the real-computer business. They don’t want to maintain anything that isn’t absolutely necessary for iOS development. That goes for application software (don’t look for Final Cut Pro X to go much further) and OS X.
Why would they pay teams of expensive developers and create products that require testing and updates, when they can skim 30% off everyone else’s work? Computing is going back to where it came from: academia, business, and “hobbyist” markets. Everyone else is going to be pecking at touchscreens to get a treat.