As someone who hasn't used Java professionally, this was helpful informed skepticism. Thanks!
> Did they JUST update to java 11?
As an LTS release with "extended" support until 2032, that certainly seems possible.
Another near-certain factor in this decision was that Apple has an extreme, trauma-born abhorrence of critical external dependencies. With "premier" support for 11 LTS having ended last fall, it makes me wonder if a primary lever for this choice was the question of whether it was better to (1) spend time evaluating whether one of Oracle's subsequent Java LTS releases would solve their performance issues, or instead (2) use that time to dogfood server-side Swift (a homegrown, "more open" language that they understand better than anyone in the world) by applying it to a real-world problem at Apple scale, with the goal of eventually replacing all of their Java-based back-ends.
Just because it’s supported (receives security updates) doesn’t mean that it isn’t still an ancient and antiquated runtime. Java 11 was released almost 8 years ago. That is thousands of commits and performance improvements behind the latest JDK24.
JDK 11 LTS is from 2018 and after that Oracle pushed two LTS releases: JDK 17 in 2021 and JDK 21 in 2023. On top of that Oracle is commited to releasing a LTS every 2 years with the next one planed for later this year.
Using an LTS doesn't mean you have to create applications on the oldest available release, it means that if you target the latest LTS release your application is going to have a predictable and supported runtime for a very long time.
If they had to start a Java 11 project in 2024 that just points to a deeper organizational problem bigger than just GC.
> Did they JUST update to java 11?
As an LTS release with "extended" support until 2032, that certainly seems possible.
Another near-certain factor in this decision was that Apple has an extreme, trauma-born abhorrence of critical external dependencies. With "premier" support for 11 LTS having ended last fall, it makes me wonder if a primary lever for this choice was the question of whether it was better to (1) spend time evaluating whether one of Oracle's subsequent Java LTS releases would solve their performance issues, or instead (2) use that time to dogfood server-side Swift (a homegrown, "more open" language that they understand better than anyone in the world) by applying it to a real-world problem at Apple scale, with the goal of eventually replacing all of their Java-based back-ends.