Somebody on the java-dev list at Apple (for discussion Java development on the Mac, no less) posted a link to this article on eweek strangely titled, "Hot Java Revives Mac Programming". At the end, the author asks for reasons why he shouldn't go back to the Mac based on how great Java is now in OS X, and the poster on java-dev said it'd be great if we all emailed him with reasons why he should *stay* with the Mac.

Whoops.

I, of course, emailed the dude with what I really thought. Here are some bits [of my email to the author].

... it's important to remember that most iBooks and many PowerBooks don't have a video card that's powerful enough to take advantage of this graphics acceleration [that Apple has built into its virtual machine that got the eweek guy so excited], so those users (not to mention any poor schmoe with OS X on an unupgraded Rev A-C iMac) are still in performance purgatory....

The bottom line is you now need to know not only that you're running on OS X but *what hardware you're using* -- turning HWaccel on when you're on a less than optimal system has reportedly caused slowdowns on some machines... "Write on the Mac, 'Run anywhere,'" is definitely not the take home message to me from Apple's HWaccel implementation.

... [vent about Project Builder compliments in the article, mention Java 3D is lacking and no release date for Java 1.4 on Mac -- and I started with the general perception that speed of Java on Mac is too slow, causing some programmers not to release for OS X]...

Hey, I love the Mac. I use a dual-USB iBook at home to test and program Java apps, and I've always been happy with the user experience Apple provides. But to program with anything less than the highest end, 1 GHz DP system running Netbeans (okay, now I'm trolling a little), much less to expect your finished product to run well on any client with OS X, is giving Apple too much credit. There's a lot of work ahead before you get me to give up Windows as a development, not just target, platform.


So there you have it. Just spent so danged long writing that I thought I'd blog.