What upsets me in particular is that there doesn't seem to be any strong technical reason for moving to JDK 1.4 other than it being 'nicer'.
Someone from the IDEA team said that they initially will NOT be using any special 1.4 feature, just asserts. I understand that the focus subsystem is fairly different, and will require much fewer 'hacks' to get it working. However, focus now works in JDK 1.3. In terms of end user perception, nothing will change (except of course for a few buggy eap versions until focus works properly in 1.4 too!). Sure, 1.4 is faster, and looks prettier with the windows laf, and is (supposedly) more stable. However, it also has its own set of bugs, and probably much the same set of issues as 1.3. 1.4.1 is due out fairly soonish to address some of the major bugs in it, in fact. So on the one hand, the gains are making developers feel they're using a 'cooler' JDK, as well as paving the path for cooler features. From scanning the newsgroups, the only 'bug' that 1.4 will fix is the very slow debugging when debugging against a 1.4 VM. On the other hand, there is the EAP program losing a not totally insignificant amount of users. People who regularly provide feedback with bugs and suggestions, people who feel that IDEA on OSX has a bright shiny hopeful future, and do not hesitate in recommending it. People who reported OSX specific bugs, and helped make IDEA the pleasure it is to use on OSX it is today. I realise some might say I'm being melodramatic, that it's just an EAP, that I could stick to the stable version if I want. The stable version however has bugs on OSX that the EAP fixes. Sticking to the stable version would also mean that I will be using a stagnant IDE, with no enhancements or bugfixes for another 3-6 months. And as someone else pointed out, when JDK 1.4 for OSX DOES come out, OSX support will have lagged far behind, and we'll have to go through the usual round of compatibility fixes to address any platform specific issues that arise. OSX support is like linux support a few years back. Companies that provide it gained a lot of love and respect from end users, and many points on the coolness scale. I could live with a current EAP for 3-6 months, provided it's usable and relatively stable, since it works very nicely on OSX and is a lot more 'compatible' than the latest stable version. Being forced to downgrade seems a cruel cruel fate! Hani On 6/5/02 9:24 AM, in article [EMAIL PROTECTED], "Sean Brandt" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > This is a major breakage. I agree with Eric, you've just alienated your > entire Mac OS X user base, and I'm sure we'll be vocal about it. > > - Sean > > Eric B. Ridge wrote: >> What's up with all releases after #629 only supporting JDK 1.4? This >> really puts OS X users in a bad position, not to mention all the people >> that aren't ready to upgrade to 1.4 yet. Please continue to support JDK >> 1.3 >> >> eric >> > _______________________________________________ Eap-features mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.jetbrains.com/mailman/listinfo/eap-features
