The VAR Guy

Apple and Oracle are joining forces for OpenJDK Project for Mac OS X. The move could give peace of mind to developers focused on cross-platform Mac, Linux and PC support. Here are some quick details.

Apple’s press release says the OpenJDK project will support all of Mac OS X’s key components, tools and technology for Java SE 7 implementation on the Mac. It will support 32- and 64-bit virtual machine technology, class libraries, networking stacks and graphical enhancements. The Apple-Oracle announcement potentially addresses recent concerns that Mac OS X would not support Java over the long haul.

Oracle is happy to have Apple become a contributor in the OpenJDK community, since Java on Mac OS X helps provide a consistent and easy cross-platform development environment. Plus, with Apple’s contribution, developers can ensure than Mac implementations of Java apps have all the features (and security) they need in the future.

Apple will continue to provide Java SE 6 for Snow Leopard and Lion. New Java SE 7 and future versions for Mac OS X will now be accessible from Oracle.

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