Oracle Responds: Java 7 Implementation on OS X

Java Oracle has announced that they wil be taking over the maintenance of Java SE on OS X starting with version 7. However, there are still some practical details to address, and so TMO asked Oracle about a few of them.

On April 26, Oracle announced that 1) Developers can now download the JDK for OS X from Oracle’s technology Network and 2) it plans to release a consumer version of Java Standard Edition (SE) version 7 including the Java Runtime environment on OS X later in 2012. But there are still a few unanswered questions.

Yesterday, TMO posed them to Oracle’s public relations representative.

  1. Will that (Java 7 JRE installer) be in the form of a one-click installer package?
  2. Without Apple’s Software Update mechanism, how will the future customers of Java 7 be notified of security and maintenance updates?
  3. Will the updates be automatic, built-in, like Firefox?
  4. As that happens, who will publish security updates for Java 6? Oracle or Apple?

Oracle’s representative offered to pass along these questions, and said, “we will see what we can do. Many thanks.”

Today, we received the no-response response: “The announcement from April 26 was just about the Java Development Kit (JDK). The Java Runtime Environment (JRE) will be available later this year and Oracle will release details for consumers once it’s available.” And then we were referred back to this early announcement by Apple.

So the news is that there’s no news that Oracle is ready to disclose about some of the practical matters of Java 7 on OS X. TMO will keep asking as we go forward.