Wow. I had no idea that Sun didn't produce Java for the Mac. I find this kind of interesting considering that they support Linux and Sun Solaris Unix. Mac OS 10 is just a variation of Unix. It probably wouldn't be that hard to make a Mac version. Oh well. I'm sure it has a lot to do with the fact that they are really pushing server Java and don't really care that much about desktop Java. Which is about the only thing Mac's are used for nowadays.

I think it has more to do with the fact that Apple wants to control it.

I guess Mac would have had to strike some kind of deal with Sun to do that. It's probably in Sun's best interest to have Java up-to-date for Mac. Anyway, has anybody seen the new MiniMac. I think I want to buy one.

Sun allows any company to make their own Java VM, as long as they follow the restrictions set out by Sun. There are thousands of unit tests the VM has to pass before it will be approved as Java by Sun.

IBM makes their own Java VM. Microsoft did at one point but changed Java so much that Sun ended up taking them to court over it and the revoking their certification. Then Microsoft made C# and the .NET framework.

I understand letting Mac make their own Java VM, but why not have a VM for the Mac Environment. Imagine if Macintosh broke the rules, and then Sun took their license away, or if they just decided they didn't want to do it anymore. There would then be no more Java VM for Mac. Sounds like Sun should have a VM for Mac Users, and stop depending on Macintosh to provide one.

It's in Apple's best interest to have a Java VM ... it won't be going away. :)

It was in Microsoft's best interest to have their own VM. That's why they had one originally. Then they went and lost their license. Now they have no more VM. Windows users now have to have the Sun VM. What if this were to happen for apple?

Windows users can use the IBM Java VM if they don't want to use Sun's. That's IBM hedging their bets.

It was in Microsoft's best interests to do exactly what they did: hijack Java and make it do Windows-specific things. Sun didn't like that and now Microsoft doesn't make a VM, which is good.

It's good because not only does it prevent Microsoft from breaking the (almost) "write once run anywhere" property, but it also gives Java some competition with .NET. That competition brought us some of the new stuff in Java 5.

It's in Apple's best interest to make their own VM because they'll want to control how Java works on their own operating system. Apple has more at stake to make sure Java performs well and looks good (Swing/AWT). That's probably why they do their own port instead of leaving it to Sun.

I remember reading that Apple was going to position Java more prominently in Mac OS X but instead stuck with Objective C. Java is still well integrated into Mac OS X though and performs pretty well.