(via my java.net blog)

The first conference I attended after getting my TiBook last year was O’Reilly’s Open Source Convention, and I was amazed to see more Macs than any other kind of laptop there. JavaOne is a slightly different group of folks, of course, and I don’t think Macs dominate here. But they’re in the running. You see them everywhere you look, being used by attendees and presenters. James Gosling is just one example.

How times have changed. Tim O’Reilly is right that the Mac is now the alpha geek’s machine, and with this kind of developer adoption, the great apps for OS X are going to flow ever faster. Part of the reason for Mac uptake among developers is OS X’s BSD underpinnings, and part is just the stability and great networking support. But another important factor is Apple’s commitment to the Java platform. Right here, a couple of years ago, Steve Jobs committed to making OS X the best Java development platform on the planet. Apple is well on the way to fulfilling that commitment.

Why, then, when Jonathan Schwartz emphasized Sun’s commitment to Java on the desktop in Tuesday’s opening keynote, did he mention Linux … but not the Mac?