Is there any chance that Apple will switch WO back to Objective-C?

It would be pretty risky if they did so, as this would affect the iTMS and Apple Store.

2003? I thought the release was delayed :)

Myth busted.”

Totally agree on this one.

The hardware and software is used by Apple itself!
And in great extension: Apple’s Store, iTunes, .Mac…
iCal is now used internally…

I do agree with you that “this is directed to the enterprise”, but maybe they are testing it inside the company.

Back to Java, Apple uses WebObjects to drive –almost– all its internet business. WO is all Java. Is WO Java 6 ready? Or it is best –from Apple’s own needs– to keep Java 5 going?

As for the “same time release” of Client and Server products, maybe can be due to the delay in Leopard. People in the Server release were probably less involved in iPhone development (the ’cause’ of Leopard’s delay).

Python and Ruby? I do not know.

As for the iPhone, when asked Jobs said something like “Flash maybe, Java definitively no” (my words).

On the embedded, the iPhone is one of the few smartphones that can’t run JavaME applications despite it being an ideal platform for it.

I am unable to run JavaME applications on my Treo 700w. The support docs’ only mention of Java is that it cannot be used. I have been unable to identify evidence that the Windows Mobile platform supports Java (or JavaME). So that leaves Blackberry and Symbian as the only significantly-deployed Java-friendly platforms.

As an iPhone owner, lack of Java support (especially as it was clearly documented in the release notes) was certainly not a dealbreaker.

Perhaps what Apple is waiting for before making a big push to enterprise is getting Java 6 finished and solid on Leopard.

Since Apple is also good at keeping their marketing message clear and focused in a single area at a time (think, in hindsight, of how ridiculous the rumors were that Apple would announce/release a new MacBook at the same time as Leopard went on sale), they’re not going to mix an enterprise-focused push with the consumer-focused push of the Leopard release. (HP needs to learn a big lesson, here.)

They *could* have delayed the release of Leopard Server until Java 6 was ready for it, and roll them into a big enterprise announcement. Apparently, other than Java 6, Leopard Server was ready to go, though, so they didn’t want to wait. They may have even more in mind for a big enterprise announcement, as well, such as new Xserves, Xsans, and who knows what else, so they’d already have enough to intro there.

Instead, we’ve regressed to where we were with 10.3– about a year after Sun’s official release with no corresponding Apple release nor any indication that Java 6 would come soon or ever. What’s more, there are no details about whether Apple is going to include the newer OpenGL rendering pipelines, the Java2D/JOGL bridges, or other technologies that make Java really fast and first-class on the client with Java 6.

That’s the desktop. On the embedded, the iPhone is one of the few smartphones that can’t run JavaME applications despite it being an ideal platform for it. (Apple’s searching for a sandboxed, safe solution– it already exists! JavaME!) On the server, J2EE is taking second fiddle to more recent “language of the month” projects, despite the fact that Java is the most popular enterprise language.

Not that it matters. I think the loss of trust in Apple after 10.5’s release is going to set them back dramatically in the developer community no matter what they do now.

If Apple wanted to be clear that it was adding only Java 5, it should have said “Java 5″ in its Leopard preview documentation, instead of “Java”. Plus, Apple released a Java 6 preview for Tiger. Both of these actions qualify as “led to believe”, in my book.

Secrecy is critical strategy for Apple to sell its consumer products, as it allows them to control the timing and degree of its product announcements (often just as the product is shipping). It allows them to get free publicity from the media, reducing their need to advertise. Much of Apple’s success with consumer products stems from Apple’s timed announcements strategy.

However, this simply doesn’t work with developers and enterprise users. Please explain to me, aside from the deception, how withholding details from Java developers will allow them to sell more hardware and software to them. Such a strategy, as evidenced by the JavaLobby forum, is having the opposite effect.