(blog) Apple (screw Java) and Microsoft (Azure loves Java)

Apple, Microsoft, and Java: Who would have ever thought that Apple would deprecate Java, and in the same week Microsoft would come out with a Java lovefest announcement? Well, it turns out that at the PDC (Professional Developers Conference), Microsoft has indeed announced their love for Java on their Azure platform.

The Register has run a story about how the Azure cloud plan favors Java, and in it they detail the Azure/Java roadamap. You see, Java is important to the enterprise, and Microsoft wants to capture (or continue to capture) the enterprise, so they see the value in providing Java support. From what I can tell of this article, the Microsoft Azure Java roadmap includes these pieces:

  • Better Java Azure performance.
  • Java Azure Eclipse tooling.
  • Java Azure client libraries
  • Changes to "Azure's networking, management, media, caching, and security".
  • And more ...

Meanwhile, earlier this week Apple attempted to quietly announce (not announce, actually) their distaste for Java (see Mac Java is deprecated, and Apple: Mac Java is deprecated, what it means).

So, two corporations, Apple seemingly focused on only on the consumer sector, and Microsoft presumably going after the consumer and the corporation, with totally different approaches to Java. In this case, as a Java developer, I say (a) "Thank you, Microsoft", and (b) I'm going to spend a little time looking at your Azure platform.

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