This information does not affect users of Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger), Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) or Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard).
• The next version of Mac OS X will be "Mountain Lion" (10.8), and Apple has announced that it could be released as early as Summer 2012. Whether or not a useable version of Java for Mac OS X will be available from Oracle by the release date is currently unknown; any opinion as to what Apple might provide is pure speculation. My software requires the features of the Java 1.5 (or later) platform.
• For users of Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion), the first time you attempt to run a Java Application (such as my software) you will be directed to an Apple Server to download and install a Java 1.6 run-time. Presumably, Apple will continue this policy so long as they continue to support various older operating systems.
• Oracle are working on the provision of Java 1.7 for Mac OS Lion, and Mac OS X systems beyond that. I have done some preliminary testing, and despite having a few issues with the present development version, fully expect that my software will continue to be operable when the next version of Mac OS X is released. It is already fully functional using Oracle's Java 1.7 for Microsoft Windows.
• Note that Microsoft do not support Java, but that does not impact Windows users since Java run-times have been provided by third party companies for many years. This is done in a way which is very simple and convenient for Windows users, and I expect that the same situation will prevail on Mac OS X down the track.