The wording is a tiny little bit ambiguous, but it would seem like Apple is preparing to ditch Java as a standard part of Mac OS X. In the 'new and noteworthy' section of the release notes for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 3, they note the deprecation of Java.
"As of the release of Java for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 3, the version of Java that is ported by Apple, and that ships with Mac OS X, is deprecated," Apple notes, "This means that the Apple-produced runtime will not be maintained at the same level, and may be removed from future versions of Mac OS X. The Java runtime shipping in Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, and Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, will continue to be supported and maintained through the standard support cycles of those products."
Apple to ditch Java?
Posted on Friday, October 22 2010 @ 3:57 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck