Screaming Penguin - Source Does Matter

"then answer this question: how will doing so make more money for Apple? In what way is supporting Java going to move more Macs"

See, I actually think it WOULD move more Macs. Something along the same line as Cooper, I came to the Mac from Linux on a laptop (the servers at home are still Linux, but the main machine I use is now a MacBook). I did it for just about the same reason as Gosling noted, it's got all the stuff I want under the hood (an actual shell, all the GNU stuff, so on), and it works as a personal machine for audio/video and such, along with "eye candy."

At the time I bought my Mac, I was still mainly using Java 1.4, and it worked fine. The Mac also supports Java 1.5. In my professional life, we only have a few apps using Java 1.6. Actually, I am the one that started upgrading things at the office to 1.5, and I have used 1.6 on a few projects where I could fit it in (it also causes problems with profiling and older tools other people have JVMTI/JVMPI, so adopting 1.6 is not just a Mac prohibitive thing, it's more general). I would be willing to bet this is a pretty common theme in the "enterprise." Most apps there are 1.4, and a few 1.5 (actually, though we should be ashamed, a good portion of ours still run 1.3 as well).

So here is my point, the Java world in general is still coming around to 1.6. Up to now, or at least only within the last year, I don't think 1.6 support has been a show stopper for your average Java developer.
Sure, maybe it SHOULD be, but the reality is it hasn't been. If Apple can get their act together pretty soon, maybe with Leopard (haven't payed close attention lately, does Leopard get 1.6 out of beta?) then they WILL be able to sell more Macs, to Java developers. That might seem like a drop in the bucket compared to the general audience, but it's important. First off, it is more sales on its own, and second that group often helps set and define more general trends, it might translate into more overall numbers. That and a platform that all developers (not just Java), and technically saavy folks (those that might have been using Linux on a laptop, for example) popularize will matter. That set, no matter how small (and I don't think it's that small actually) is the knowledgeable and vocal group, you want them in the fold.

All of that leaves out having Java to support apps ON the Mac. Sure I use MindTerm, Squirrel, Azareus, NeoOffice, and the like, but you are right that those aren't the top tier. Unfortunately though, on no platform is Java really dominant in terms of desktop apps (I think that it should be, more companies should focus on cross platform that way, but the big apps your average user installs, even on Windows, aren't Java).

Apple customers do, or at least should, have some level of demand for Java. And because of that, along with the low threshold to just include it (I know dick about making a JVM for Darwin, but really, how hard can it be in relative terms to everything else Apple does, and how many resources they have?), it seems only logical that Apple would just get it together.

And, I don't think Apple has really been as "anti" Java as many folks are claiming. They are working on it, or so they say? Sure it's been too long, and that hurts, but they haven't kicked Java to the curb like lots of folks purport (most of the "ball and chain" FUD is based on stuff taken out of context, and or misunderstood). If Dolphin drops and Apple is still not there with 1.6, that will be a big deal, but I don't think the sky is falling just yet.