Are Java's days on the Mac numbered? What about Flash, for that matter? If the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad are indicators, I'm concerned about it. After all, Apple was late in releasing Java SE 6 on the Mac platform, only offering Java SE 5 long after 6 was available on other platforms. Fortunately, Apple caught up, and has been keeping up with the latest Java SE 6 updates since. Still, it's concerning.

Personally, I use a Mac for all of my Java development, while testing on Linux and Windows in VirtualBox. However, if Apple were to drop Java support altogether, and no one picked up Java VM development for the Mac OS X platform, I'd switch off the platform. To understand why Apple does the JVM development on OS X, read Gosling's blog here: http://blogs.sun.com/jag/date/20071016. In a sentence, Apple does it because they insisted.

Fortunately, nothing official has been said about Java being dropped for the Mac. However, if you run Java on a Mac, speak up and let your feelings be known. Let Apple know you want the Mac to continue to be a leading Java development platform.

Happy coding!

-EJB