James Gosling: It Really Should Be JDK 7
Code To Joy's blogging about a James Gosling quote reminded me of another recent James Gosling quote that I've meant to blog but haven't.
In an appearance on This Ain't Your Dad's Java, James Gosling is heard saying:
James Gosling on 6u10 (at 5:00 minutes): And 6 update 10 is kind of a challenge because It's not a normal update. It is a normal update in that from an API point of view, you won't see very much. But under the sheets, it really should be JDK 7.
So I'm not alone in harboring that thought.
Re: James Gosling: It Really Should Be JDK 7
I can think of a few reasons to make it an update to 6.0:
1) OEMs have to spend a lot of time and money certifying a version of Java before shipping it on hundreds of thousands of new computers. If it's just an update release they are OK with that but if it's called Java 7 then they will hold off until they have time and money to re-certify.
2) I think the Java update center will offer to upgrade to new update releases of Java 6.0 but probably would not offer to upgrade to 7 or even 6.1
3) They want to get Java FX shipped, and waiting for JDK 7 would be be a bad decision