John R Pierce, 05.10.2012 08:34:
>> You are also moving to a Java version that is soon to be
>> de-supported.
>
> Java is supported? only if you mean the non-stop stream of updates
> brought on by web exploit exposures.
Yes it is. In a similar way as PostgreSQL is "supported".
> if you're using Java as a server side application development
> environment, whats 'supported' mean ?
There are versions where Oracle will apply bugfixes and there are version where they will not.
It's not only about security fixes for the Browser plugin-in (which I frankly think is totally useless),
but there are also fixes to the whole JDK and Java API which could well affect server apps.
Think IPv6 - AFAIK that will not be available for older Java versions.
> frankly, at least from our perspective, Java 7 has been a no-fly so
> far. it brings nothing to the table we're interested in, just more
> Oracle induced nonsense.
I beg to differ. There are some new features in the language that are really nice.
And also several new technologies will not be available on the old Java platforms
(think Tomcat 7, JavaEE 6 and so on)
The same way you should stay up-to-date with a PostgreSQL release you should with your Java development environment
(even if you don't really need or use the new features)