Java 1.7 on OS-X?

[Pat Farrell]

Are there any rumours of when Apple will release Java 7 for OS-X?
I'm stuck here using 1.6 and I want to use String statements in switch {}

[Bear Bibeault]

Apple will not. Oracle will: http://www.macrumors.com/2012/08/14/oracle-officially-launches-java-se-7-for-os-x/

[Pat Farrell]

I see the JRE release on Oracle, but not the JDK.
Is it hidden some place?

[Bear Bibeault]

Not sure -- I just read the article. I won't be ready to transition to Java 7 for some time.

[Pat Farrell]

Bear Bibeault wrote:Not sure -- I just read the article. I won't be ready to transition to Java 7 for some time.

I'm usually very slow to update OS and compilers. But 7 has been out in the non-OS-X world for a fairly long time.

[Ulf Dittmer]

The language seems pretty clear about the JDK being included:

With this release, Oracle is providing full availability of Java SE 7 Update 6 on Mac OS X, including the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) and the Java Development Kit (JDK), as well as the JavaFX 2.2 rich client platform and JavaFX Scene Builder.

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

I installed Java 7 on my Mac last month. It was not a smooth experience. See steps and problems. The gist of it is that Open Office doesn't run with Java 7 so Java 6 is still on my path and Eclipse is using Java 7 as a JDK/JRE internally only.

[Pat Farrell]

Jeanne Boyarsky wrote:I installed Java 7 on my Mac last month. It was not a smooth experience.

Thanks. This was exactly the kind of problems that I don't need.

Looks like I need to give it another month or two for others to be pioneers.

[Mark Spritzler]

Actually Java7 for the Mac has been around for at least 6 months if not more. I know about a year ago, I wanted to upgrade to Java 7 but couldn't just because I have Snow Leopard. Which is still my barrier on my machine. I still can't get myself to upgrade to Mountain Lion. I like Spaces.

Mark

[Bear Bibeault]

Personally, I find Mission Control much easier to use than Spaces. To each.

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

Mark Spritzler wrote:Actually Java7 for the Mac has been around for at least 6 months if not more. I know about a year ago, I wanted to upgrade to Java 7 but couldn't just because I have Snow Leopard. Which is still my barrier on my machine. I still can't get myself to upgrade to Mountain Lion. I like Spaces.

Why does having an old OS prevent you from upgrading Java? I'm sure it does and I suspect the answer is "because Apple doesn't let you." But it seems like you could install it elsewhere and point Eclipse at it at least.

[Mark Spritzler]

Because there isn't one to download for Snow Leopard. There are many apps that you can't install on Snow Leopard. For instance Apple's ebook authoring app will not run on Snow Leopard. The Java 7's that are out there for OSX all state that it does not install on Snow Leopard and are written to work on Lion and Mountain Lion only.

I searched for a long time.

Mark

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

Mark Spritzler wrote:I searched for a long time.

Oh, I believe you. I don't like the idea that at some point the Mac because obsolete/unusable because of the inability to get software for it. If you can't update the OS because of the hardware (I know you aren't there yet; but some are) and you can't update the software because of the OS, it forces buying a new computer.

And no, I wasn't running Windows 95 on my old computer. But the upgrade cycle seems faster on Mac.

[Bear Bibeault]

One thing that Apple does much faster than Microsoft is to update or introduce core services in the OS that the apps depend upon. Frequently newer versions of apps require newer versions of the core services and that's why they need certain versions of OS X. And of course, the upgrades are much less expensive than Windows. Mountain Lion is only $20.

I have one older Mac still running Tiger and it's still perfectly usable. It just can't run the latest and greatest because the core services are too old. But for what I use it for, it's fine. My work-horse MacBook Pro is always kept up-to-date with the latest.

[Maneesh Godbole]

Found http://timhooker.blogspot.in/2013/05/install-java-jdk7-on-mac-osx-snow.html and http://stackoverflow.com/questions/13536667/how-to-install-java-jdk-7-on-snow-leopard
Is it worth trying? Or is it just sensible to upgrade to Lion? I am not really keen on lion as I am very happy with Snow Leopard.