> What I find really annoying is that Ron has been beating around the bush
> regarding Java sup****t (and Windows sup****t, until CW 9 was announced)
> since CW 9 for OS X was announced.
I too find this a shame. Although I don't fully understand Ron's
explanation about the "legal consequences" of just admitting what
Metrowerks' plans are, I do believe that MWRon is sincerely trying to
balance doing the right thing by his employer and as well as by us.
Before now, Metrowerks has always been upfront about their future
plans. At a previous WWDC feedback sessions, Metrowerks announced
well in advance their plans of dropping 68K sup****t and the Pascal
compiler. In both cases, Metrowerks diligently attempted to give
everyone advanced notice and help prepare them for the coming changes.
In fact, Metrowerks went above and beyond the call of duty by making
sure that the final Pascal compiler produced Carbon-compliant code, a
commitment that probably didn't have a large enough user base to fully
justify, but they did it anyway. Lesser companies would just have
stopped updating the compiler, continue to sell it and not say a word
(eg: Symantec's Think compilers from 10 years ago).
I fear that with the acquisition by Motorola, Metrowerks may not be
the same kind of company anymore. That leaves the development
community only to speculate on what's going to happen. I can think of
only three possibilities:
1. Metrowerks will simply update their Java compiler for version 10,
and everything will be as it was before (merely skipping version 9).
I find this to be unlikely, given Ron's posts about the state of the
current Java compiler and the secretiveness about the matter.
Something is afoot, and I'm not getting a warm-and-fuzzy feeling about
it.
2. Metrowerks will drop Java sup****t, either with the last version 8,
or with one last gasp labelled 9 or 10. This unfortunately seems very
likely, and it certainly explains why there was no version 9 and why
they've placed a gag order on MWRon. The Metrowerks Java compiler has
under-performed in the marketplace (especially lately), and their
Windows version isn't even on the radar scope compared to some of the
big names like Borland or Sun. Given Apple's latest Java tools,
Metrowerks might be planning to just cede the Java market to them
(however, Motorola demanding that this not be pre-announced, so that
sales don't stop too soon).
3. Metrowerks is planning to relaunch Java as some new product,
perhaps using Motorola's native Java technologies, such as their J2ME
stuff in their cellphones and Linux (announced last year). This would
also explain the big hush-hush. With Metrowerks' many compilers on
these small embedded systems, and Motorola's push of Java on such
things, this may be thought to be a good match. The risk is of course
that this new product is not even Mac-hosted and will essentially be
equivalent to Case #2 above for any Mac developer.
These are of course my own speculations; someone with a less limited
imagination may be able to come up with more accurate guesses.
Having said all this, Ron, I certainly don't expect you to be able to
confirm or deny any of this. Nor should you read any implied
criticism of Metrowerks as anything negative toward you. You have
been there through the years (and through the ringer many times) and
have always remained one of the best sources of information and aid.
Reagrds,
Jonathan Hoyle
Gene Codes Cor****ation
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